and, singer harry belafonte remembers his friend, dr. martin luther king, jr., 50 years after the assassination of the civil rights icon. >> if he were alive today, that means the course of history that has led us to where we are today would not be the history we would be having. if dr. king had lived, there would be no today as we know it. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 1 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer ceular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless pla our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> babbel. a language app that teaches realife conversations in a n language. >> entertainment studios. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing sup

woodruff: harry belafonte saying he was shaping human history of martin luther kg, jr. that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. odve a great weekend. thank you and go night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been proved by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, mrman, italian, and more. babbel's ten to ute lessons are available as an app, or online. more informati on babbel.com. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> bnsf railway.>> onsumer cellular. >> entertainment studios. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years,an advancing ideasupporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these instutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was ma possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. captioning

and those are my favorite tists, harry belafonte, bob marley, marvin gaye, they capture the esnce of moment. what we do as artists is we move people and so if we ca people in service of moving a nation, towards an idea like justice for something or someone, then that is my responsibility. harry belafonte talked to me about all the people in the invil rights movement bein their 20s and making all these incredible things happened because th's their energy, ey're vitality, their imagination. it's my generation's time to take responsibility, to take ownership of ourorld. it's very important you know, for me being african-amecan, mix race artist and person to illuminate the issues that a present in today's world around police brutality, around incarceration, to hopefully be able to move forward in a way that is really equitable and just for all people. the "transformations suite" is a five-part tone poem combining music, theater and poetry, to diamine the history of african protest both in thpora and specifically in america.♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every time we play the "transformations suite," it's a di

and, singer harry belafonte remembers his friend, dr. martin luther king, jr., 50 years after the assassination of the civil rights icon. >> if he were alive today, that means the course of history that has led us to where we are today would not be the history we would be having.

[applause] >> harry belafonte once said sometimes a good lord makes himself a person who holds the visionible for the world. and that vision guides them, as he grows in struggle. that man is dangerous to the sloppy ways of the world because that man loves truth more than he loves his own life. -- [applause] >> my name is jim lawson, which is what martin luther king jr. called me. we have had a wonderful afternoon. this is like the teachings of the 60's and 90's. words, heard a lot of often good and powerful words. powerful soords are we need to get words in our heads that help us to be and really to happen to the great thing about being human and alive and loving and caring. i'm going to try to repeat all of this to try not to repeat all of the things that have been set. -- i'm going to try not to repeat all of the things that have been set. connected with martin in 1955 andjr. walked with him in many places around the country around the southeastern part of the nation and was the architect of the nonviolent movement. direct action. to press hard on the soul force or nonviolent struggle a

obviously, harry belafonte was very close.o he was with us, along with sammy davis who came in and sydney portier and wilt chamberla chamberlain. peter, paul & mary. marlon brando. there were hosts of entertainers who came. and, obviously, aretha franklin was close because of her dad and them being ministers. so i remember all of this. one story that i must tell, two very important people at that time came. one was robert cole and his co-star bill cosby. >> really? >> yes. and bill cosby spent time with the three of us. and i remember him giving us some i mean, we didn't go into a chance but it was almost as if to say your dad is still with us even though he's physically not here. i don't remember what he told us. he said to my mom, i'll spend time with the kids. >> wow. >> that was a powerful experience. >> they were a very big audience. >> yes, yes. >> let me bring you 50 years later. you reenergized, realizing the dream and called on this morrow movement, this culture of non-violence, i've seen and worked with you down thro

marlon brando, sammy davis junior, sidney poitier, harry belafonte sat up front alongside caretta scott king. ralph abernathy occupied the pulpit and was basically king's second-in-command in the civil rights organization. baldwin wrote the atmosphere was black with tension indescribable as though something, perhaps the heavens, perhaps. might crack. as the service began baldwin tried to keep himself together. tears seemed futile, couldn't have been the only one. and the pallbearers carried king's casket toward the door, skipping over my production of the surface and the songs they sang. abernathy followed the casket chanting psalms. and the enormity of the spectacle which he failed to appreciate on his way in. and on both sides of the road, they occupied every imaginable space. and as far as the eye can see, black with people and they stood in silence, they offered a new testament to king. it was the silence that undid me, baldwin explained. and i stumbled. sammy davis junior grabbed his arm and studied him for the march ahead and they would walk for miles through the streets of atlant

special correspondent charlayne hunter- gault's conversation with entertainer and king confidant harry belafonte. >> yang: now to our newshour shares, something interesting that caught our eye. ray stanfo has been looking for dinosaurs in creek beds and rivers for over 30 years. despe being a self-taught tracker, stanford is something of a legend among paleontolosts. producer pamela rkland has the story. six years ago, he made his biggest discovery -date. >> there's part of a track down to the lower right. >> reporter: when it comes to tracking dinosaurs, ray stanford is a natural. stanford is a self-taught paleontologist known for his talent for finding dinosaur fossils from the cretaceous er 140 to 65 million years ago. in 2010, while visiting his wife sheila, an information specialist at nasa's goddard space flight center, he noticed loose rock. >> this is the theropod track that ultimately led to the gra discovery. >> reporter: on a separate visit two years later, a rock on the ugllside, not far from the first track he found, his eye. >> if you would've told me this, i would never have belie

of it was self learning, went into a room with james baldwin, african-americans in new york, harry belafonte and all these people, he bailed out all the kids, he did all this behind-the-scenes stuff. don't they like what i am doing? two week later he sat in a room with his brother on tape, saying johnny, you got to go on television and fight for civil rights, a white guy learning about the cause of civil rights. >> you got to do it. >> he was learning through experience, learning who he was buy what he was doing through action and same with the cuban missile crisis. like most americans when we found out the russians put intermediate-range missiles on cuba they were not defensive, they could reach every city in the united states but seattle. they were after us, reestablishing a different balance. it was just a base. he wanted to bomb the hell out of them but then, always thinking about berlin, how could i kill thousands of cubans and even russians? i don't want to be tojo. i don't want to be doing pearl harbor in reverse, just bomb some country. he came up with the idea of his contact with kh

[applause] >> harry belafonte once said sometimes a good lord makes himself a person who holds the vision. that man is dangerous to the sloppy ways of the world because that man loves truth more than he loves his own life. martin luther king, junior, was such a man. is ane he was, there aggressive move to water down his message and to sanitize his words, and to make him comfortable to the status quo, and make it acceptable to the american palate. there has been a move to hijack the very identity of martin luther king jr.. we must be clear, that dr. king's message was both prophetic and radical. rooted in the message of jesus christ, which was in his foundation. dr. king was tied to a god of love and justice. his loyalty was to god this -- and his faith is what summoned him to his activism. dr. king was uncompromising in his commitment to eradicate war and racism and poverty. he was ever determined in his quest to tear down the door of an justice and opportunity that stood closed and left outside. -- and the masses left outside. martin luther king jr. was uncompromising and his attempt to

>> paul wilson and harry belafonte i think had some problems but if you were successful was like they would call in a janitor with the communist manifesto in his pocket g because they couldn't get any political currency from that. you can say whatever you want nobody is listening but if you had i an important job or position or if what you said impacted many americans with cultural political impact, then you were treated poorly but most people it went right over them. >> were race relations shifting at this point in the 50s? >> the thingbo about america with shifting race relations, they are always shifting but they never get soft it is shifting still you have people running around to say i'm white but that doesn't make sense in europe there were no white people there are ten different races there there were britons it just goes on and on the dot and then the spanish and g the greeks and scandinavians they didn't think they were the same race as the greeks they knew they weren't. evenew the greeks in the roman senate think they were the same race but they came to america they were pre

>> guest: some very famous ones, harry belafonte had a problem, his friends did. if you weren't successful it really - the house un-american activities calling on a janitor who had the communist manifesto in his pocket, they didn't get any political currency. if you had an important job, important position, impacted many political impact, then you were treated poorly. most people went all over them. >> host: race relations shifting at this point, in the 50s and 60s. >> guest: the thing about america, they are always shifting but never gets old. it is shifting, shifting, people wandering around saying i am white, doesn't make sense to say you are white. in europe there were no white people. in britain, there were ten races, really it goes on and on, spanish, greeks, scandinavians didn't think they were the same race as the greeks, in the same race, they came to america, oppressed, wanted to kill the indians because they own the land, it was theirs so they need to get rid of them and enslaved black people to build the land because they had so-called red people to sl

fame now ones like paul rob son, i think harry belafonte had some problems. if you -- the house on unamerican activities wouldn't call in a janitor who had the communist manifesto in his pocket because they didn't get any political currency, so a lot of us were, uh-huh, right, you can say whatever you want because nobody was listening but if you had an important job, an important position, if you -- if what you said impacted many americans, had any kind of actual tyler or political impact -- cultural or political impact, your were treated poorly. most people, it went right over them. >> host: were race relations shifting this point? in the early '50s. >> guest: the think about america and shifting race relations, they're always shifting but they never, like, get solved. it's shifting, it's shift, shift, but still, you have people wandering around saying, i'm white, even though it doesn't make sense to say, you're white. in europe, there were no white people. there were britainons and ten different races there, the druids druids and the celts and goes on and o