Harry Belafonte holds the door open for the King children before getting into his limosine: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This black and white photograph shows Harry Belafonte standing in a dark suit with one hand on an open car door. Belafonte is outside of Ebenezer Baptist Church after the first commemorative birthday event for Martin Luther King Jr. in 1969. The top of an unidentified individual's head can be seen at the bottom of the photograph. The back of the photograph has a manufacturer's mark, and handwritten and printer's inscriptions.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: January 15, 1969; printed 2011
• Photograph by: Horace C. Henry, American, born 1948
• Subject of: Harry Belafonte Jr., American, 1927 - 2023
• Printed by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Ebenezer Baptist Church, American, founded 1886
• Type: portraits
• Type: inkjet prints
• Medium: ink on paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.6 cm)
• Place captured: Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Baptist
• Topic: Civil Rights
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Religion
• Topic: Religious rituals and ceremonies
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2011.94.34
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Horace C. Henry
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Horace Henry Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.