Daylight Come: Harry Belafonte and the World He Made (Significations) - Hardcover

Joshua Jelly-Schapiro; Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593652703 ISBN 13: 9780593652701

Publisher: Penguin Press, 2026

Synopsis

Even two years after his death, Harry Belafonte is everywhere. You can't go to a wedding, or to Yankee stadium, without hearing 'Day-O,' 'Jump in the Line,' or 'Turn the World Around.' The Harlem-born son of Caribbean immigrants, Belafonte turned the folk music of the islands into American pop - and with it invented the fantasy of Caribbean life that endures as an ideal and as a multibillion dollar tourist industry. Belafonte released the first million-selling LP in history. He was America's first Black movie star, the first Black person to produce a primetime special on network TV, and the first to win an Emmy. He was once the highest-paid Black performer of all time, beloved by Black and white fans alike, even under segregation. His artistic career helped create the pop culture of the twentieth century - and his political activism reshaped the course of American history. In this sparkling new biography, Joshua Jelly-Schapiro brings Belafonte's personality and music vibrantly to life, following him from rags to riches and from Harlem to Jamaica to the March on Washington. Jelly-Schapiro takes us inside Belafonte's lifelong brotherhood with Sidney Poitier, his friendship with Fidel Castro, his collaboration with Nelson Mandela, and the sometimes-shocking therapeutic relationships his difficult upbringing necessitated. At the heart of the story is Belafonte's bond with Martin Luther King Jr., whose cause Belafonte would champion for the rest of his life. That commitment to the greater good would sustain him and benefit untold numbers - and would come at a cost. The indelible story of an American icon - and a provocative study of authenticity, fame, and conviction - Daylight Come is, like Harry Belafonte himself, brimming with style and consequence.

About this title

About the Author

Joshua Jelly-Schapiro is a geographer and writer whose books include Names of New York: Discovering the City's Past, Present, and Future Through Its Place-Names, Island People: The Caribbean and the World, and with Rebecca Solnit, Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas. His work appears regularly in The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker, and The New York Times, among many other publications. Jelly-Schapiro teaches journalism at New York University and is director of publishing at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, where he hosts the popular Author Talks series.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0593652703
• ISBN 13: 9780593652701
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384