3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist, speaks in Faneuil Hall, during the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights. The event is an endowed public program of the Armenian Heritage Foundation, which every year invites key figures committed to advance justice and human rights in the world. The title of the 2016 event was “Justice & Equality: Inspiring Activism”. The setting of the conference is a simbolic tribute to the women and men that in 1890s from Faneuil Hall raised awareness about the atrocities taking place against the Armenian minority of the Ottoman Empire. The movement managed to raise over $100 million of aid and could be considered one of the first international human rights movement.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old, centre), human rights activist and artist, sits next to Roger H. Brown (left), president of the Berklee College of Music, and his wife Pamela Frank (right), during the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights held by the Armenian Heritage Foundation in Faneuil Hall. Harry Belafonte was born in Harlem in 1927. He spent his childhod in Jamaica with his maternal grandmother and then returned to Harlem for his high school. He got into the world of theater and music starting from the American Negro Theatre in Harlem, joining then the New School of Social Research and starting a Dramatic Workshop with classmates like Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist, talks about his life during the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights held in Faneuil Hall by the Armenian Heritage Foundation. During his life he has committed himself to raising awareness of human rights and societal equality all over the world. He joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the early ’50s and embraced the civil rights movement with him.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. The audience stands up and applaudes after the speech of Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist. He is the special guest of the annual Najarian Lecture Human Rights held in Faneuil Hall by the Armenian Heritage Foundation. Harry Belafonte is well-known and respected not only for his contribution to the civil rights movement, but also for his worldwide efforts to raise awareness about human rights. In 1985 helped to organize the song “We are the World”, a multi-artist creation, in order to raise funds for Africa.
3 November 2016. Boston, MA. Harry Belafonte (89 years old), human rights activist and artist, leaves Faneuil Hall after his speech for the annual Najarian Lecture on Human Rights held by the Armenian Heritage Foundation. During his life he has served as cultural advisor for the Peace Corps andUNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He was honored as Ambassador of Conscience by Amnesty International, and received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Despite his age, he has recently started Sankofa, a non-profit organization that unites the power of culture and celebrity with activism.