it began with a phone call. >> belafonte, my name is martin luther king jr.to tell me who he was. i said, "dr. king, i know who you are. i think the whole world is getting to know who you are." he asked to me with me. >> reporter: they spoke for four hours. king asked for his help. >> i told at the end of that meeting that i would be of service as long as it took. >> reporter: belafonte became one of king's confidants and a big contributor to the civil rights movement. helping to organize the march on washington. >> i have just left mrs. king and the children. i was in their bedroom. they're going to view the body today for the first time. >> reporter: when king was assassinated in 1968, belafonte grieved the loss of a friend. >> my brain was reeling with, what do we do? where do we go from here? what's next? and what's next? >> reporter: in the years that followed belafonte threw himself into humanitarian work. witnessing famine firsthand in africa, he had an idea. >> the culture and community needs to step to the plate. we need to let our voices be heard. ♪

tonight part one of a conversation with hair belafonte -- harry belafonte. he has a new memoir called "my song: a memoir." we're glad you have joined us for the first night with harry belafonte coming up right now. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to at a time. a time.cosa nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: i am always pleased and honored to welcome harry belafonte to this program. despite of all of his attack alert -- accolade's we will roll in his commitment to justice in this country and around the world. if you have not seen the terrific documentary about his l

tonight, part two of our conversation with the iconic harry belafonte. he is out with a new memoir called "my song." learn about his on likely path to success and his views on the current state of affairs. we are glad you joined us. coming up right now. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. tavis: backed now with part two of our conversation with harry belafonte. the film is "sing your song". pick up a copy of his memoir, "my song." we left our conversation last night with me asking you about the path you had to take to find the good and how

belafonte has written a book called "my song, a memoir." i spoke with him at the 92nd street y earlier this month and here is that conversation. is it easy t bare your soul like you did in this book? >> no, it's not easy but it was necessary. and what i needed to import to those who will read the book was a more nuanced sense of the history that i experienced and the intimacies exchanged with a lot of the principles, whether it was eleanor roosevelt or bobby kennedy or mandela and a host of people that folks have never heard . you try to make a point that will take care of myths forever so i find myself having to say a lot in the book because there were a lot of assumptions and a lot of people who thought things stories, that they had heard and i felt the necessity to set some of that straight. in order to do that, i had to delve into a deeper sen of intimacy and a greater sense of personal relationships and defining them and describing them. so it was an unusual experience for me. >> rose: the most important person in your life was your mo

they were not familiar with who was harry belafonte.n they discovered after having made the commitment to the apartment that i was black the whole group went to an upheaval and wouldn't rent to me. and mrs. roosevelt got wind of the fact and wrote this article denouncing the segregation... theilent segregation and invited me publicly in t column to come liveith her and... (laughter) i kind of wanted to accept the idea that racism was eternal but i could hang with iif i could live with eleanor. (laughter) but i didn't take up at offer. i thinit was meant more in spirit and in reality. but you would have done in the reality, too. >> rose: then came the call from martin luther king saying... >> saying that he wanted me to be... he called and he said "you don't know me, but my name is martin luther king, jr. and i'm coming to new york and i'd welcome an opportunity to meet with you." and he was coming here to speak to the religious community, trying to encourage them become more engaged in the movement that he had started, the montgomery bu

. >> rose: i just did a thing with harry belafonte. >> in '39. >> that was at opening night. >> he's a wonderful man. dedicated his life to helping other folks. >> i admire him so much. >> rose: and played a central role between dr. king and the kennedys. got the kennedys to talk to dr. king. saying "you you've got to... listen..." you hope people... you especially hope young people come see this. you want them to know. >> i want all of america to come see it. and most of them are coming to see it. but i especially want young folks to come. >> rose: how many other productions? london and here? >> yes. >> rose: where will the next production be, do you know yet? >> my hope is that it will be done all over the nation. it's been translated into russian. we did a reading in russia earlier this year and it was so interesting to see that this russn audience reacted to the play the sam way that the london and american audiences have reacted to it. it's a testament to how universal the story is, about this man struggling to come to terms with his life, with his mortality. and with his imperf

join me next time for the first part of a conversation with harry belafonte. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. bar not just a street orla wre utd, where walmart stds together with yo communityo make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one a time.ti nationwi is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

came to be known as a showcase for new musical talent, from john coltrane and miles davis, to harry belafonte you who barbra streisand is? no. miles davis was playing here at the time, and max asked miles would he accompany her? no way, he said. she got up and sang anyway, and she was very good. >> last year streisand repaid that debt by performing again at the vanguard, something she talked about in a recently released dvd. >> after everything i've done and everywhere i've been, i'm back to where i started. life is a circle, right? >> you're surround by the faces of jazz greats. i mean, the history is thick. you can almost, you know, breathe it in. >> in 1989 max gordon died, and lorraine gordon says she was completely unprepared to take over. >> i really was not trained in any way. i wasn't encouraged, you know, hey, lorraine, would you maybe like to take over? nothing. i close it had that night and i wrote a little sign closed and opened it the next night. now i learned what to do or what not to do, and i learned on the job, as they say. >> lorraine takes a very hands-on approach to the vi

. >>> it was standing room only tonight in berkely for harry belafonte.ous singer and songwriter has been a life long leader in the civil rights movement. >>> two big surprises in tonight's grammy nominations. where adele got her nod, and the artist that picked up seven nominations. >>> we'll check out the wind speeds, talk about the >>> nominees were announced tonight for the 54th grammy awards. british singer adele won six nominations. the awards will be held february 12 at the staples center in los angeles. you can see the entire nominations list on ktvu.com. >>> crews working at the project in mission and beale streets have found items that date all the way back to the late 1800s. at that time, the area was a working class neighborhood of mostly irish and chinese immigrant families. the bottles and items show us how different life and hygiene was. >> you only brushed the front. you didn't brush the side. >> starting on friday, an exhibit will be open to the public in the lobby of 201 mission street. >>> san francisco's museum of modern art revealed ne

with his inspirational words, belafonte gives each inmate a personal challenge. >> your failure is myrry a responsibility and the destiny of my children and my children's children, and their friends and their community. and they can either look at you as someone and a group to be shunned, or they can look at you as an example of how to take the worst cards dealt in life and turn the deck around and make it your game and play a winning hand every time. [ applause ] get the community to focus on something it can have faith in. and from that institution, move to outside world. and says, you must look in a very different way at how the prison population is being treated. i think it's a great opportunity. [ applause ] >>> next on "lockup," inmates in the l.a. county jail get back their freedom. we know a place where tossing and turning have given way to sleeping. where sleepless nights yield to restful sleep. and lunesta can help you get there, like it has for so many people before. when taking lunesta, don't drive or operate machinery until you feel fully awake. walking, eating, driving,

ines ferre reports from belafonte, pennsylvania with the latest on the sex scandal. >> reporter: jerry sandusky was driven home after spending a night behind bars. he posted bail, using $200,000 in real estate holdings and a $50,000 certified check from his wife. sandusky was led from his home in handcuffs wednesday, after two more accusers told their story to a grand jury. 10 alleged victims now claim sandusky sexually abuse said them. victim number 9 says the 67- year-old raped them at the sandusky home in a bedroom. at least once, he told a grand jury, he screamed for help, knowing that sandusky's wife was upstairs. but no one came to help him. >> reporter: sandusky's lawyers said his client is required to wear an electronic monitoring device. he is not allowed to contact his accusers in the case. and he can't be with anybody under the age. 18. >> reporter: police said sandusky met most of his victims through his charity for underprivileged children. some of his accusers man to testify at his initial court appearance tuesday. ines ferre, wjz eyewitness news. >> sandusky's wife relea

. >>> it was standing room only tonight in berkely for harry belafonte.er and songwriter has been a life long leader in the civil rights movement. >>> two big surprises in tonight's grammy nominations. where adele got her nod, and the artist that picked up seven nominations. >>> we'll check out the wind speeds, talk about the forecast winds and the five-day forecast. >>> incredible artifacts unearthed in san francisco, and where you can see them. >>> nominees were announced tonight for the 54th grammy awards. british singer adele won six nominations. the awards will be held february 12 at the staples center in los angeles. you can see the entire nominations list on ktvu.com. >>> crews working at the project in mission and beale streets have found items that date all the way back to the late 1800s. at that time, the area was a working class neighborhood of mostly irish and chinese immigrant families. the bottles and items show us how different life and hygiene was. >> you only brushed the front. you didn't brush the side. >> starting on friday, an exhibit

. >>> our jason carroll is live in belafonte, pennsylvania with the latest. >> reporter: good morningo, i called the center county correctional facility just to make sure that jerry sandusky was, in fact, still in jail. had is. and he continues to deny these new allegations as he has denied the previous ones. for the second time in two months, jerry sandusky, former assistant football coach at penn state, was hauled away in handcuffs facing charges of child sex abuse. and in a new grand jury finding two more alleged victims identified as number nine and ten claim sandusky abused them as children. both accusers say that they met sandusky through his second mile foundation. they claim that he took an interest in them. and inviting them to his home for meals and on outings. and gradually engaged in sex acts with them. alleged victim number nine, between 11 and 12 years old, when he first met sandusky in 2004. heselfed that over three years, he often visited sandusky's home and slept over in a basement bedroom. there, he says, sandusky forced him to perform oral sex and tried to rape him

and if you keep telling it, i remember when a few years ago her belafonte convened a meeting of what was happening in katrina. i had just come back from venezuela. katrina was on the water. i had to leave. you can't leave because we are going to have as a meeting. a reading of the to have a meeting, but people on the water. and currency was competing. i had to do the current thing. the meeting was a good idea. but the currency said, was not stay too long talked about yesterday of his people are drowning today. so even as we meet right now, tomorrow has a chance. a black man can be the governor of mississippi like tomorrow morning, like tomorrow, tomorrow. and at the nation to that campaign. now, the material state. the billboard state. governor of mississippi tomorrow night. and so if you show it well, you accused of ambulance chasing. well, the relatives in it. all the really. not miss this moment that a black man can be the governor of mississippi. mississippi to our night. and we bought our numbers. we can win mississippi governorship. we can become governor of mississippi by tomo