This week we remember singer, actor, and activist Harry Belafonte, who died April 25, 2023 at the age of 96. Belafonte brought calypso music to an international audience with a string of hits beginning in the 1950s. He quickly became a popular star of stage and screen and used his star power to help advance the civil rights movement. He is one of few performers to earn the coveted "EGOT" — having received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Belafonte remained a key political and humanitarian activist throughout his life, supporting causes all over the world and advocating for the rights of People of Color, women, and LGBTQ individuals.

In honor of his lasting legacy, this week's video featured a performance of his sing "Turn the World Around" which was memorably performed on The Muppet Show alongside puppets built to resemble African tribal masks. On the broadcast, Belafonte introduced the song and explained its artistic theme as follows:

"I discovered [this] song in Africa. I was in a country called Guinea, and I went deep into the interior of the country. In a little village, I met with a story-teller. That story-teller went way back into African tradition—into African mythology. He began to tell a story about the fire—which means the Sun—about the water, about the Earth. And he pointed out that all of these things put together turn the world around. And that all of us are here for a very, very short time. And in that time that we are here, there really isn't any difference in any of us IF we take time out to understand each other. And the question is, Do I know who you are? Do you know who I am? Do we care about each other? Because, if we do, together we can turn the world around."