Black History

Maddox and Belafonte,Warriors For Justice, Pass

Alton Maddox, second from left, with wife Leola and Attorney Michael Hardy at left, and Attorney’s Steve Jackson and C. Vernon Mason leaving the courthouse in Poughkeepsie, NY after Maddox’s riveting presentation in the courtroom.
Musician and actor Harry Belafonte and protesters holding signs and marching during a protest against segregation by Woolworths department stores, 1960. (Photo by Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images)

Two of our warriors have transitioned. Alton Maddox and Harry Belafonte fought on different fronts, requiring different skills and different weapons. They both had the same objective: Freedom from oppression wherever they found it.

Alton H. Maddox Jr (July 21 1945 – April 23 2023) practiced law and used it as a weapon against the entrenched racism in the criminal justice and legal system. It has been said he was so successful that he had to be disarmed, and that’s the reason his license was taken away.

Harry Belafonte (March 1 1927 – April 25 2023) was a gifted actor/activist/humanitarian and used his immense fame as both a shield and a weapon, giving him the wherewithal to pursue the essential work of providing funding to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., paying bail for others in the movement, helping strategize the 1963 March on Washington and bringing attention to injustices he saw around the world.
It is up to those left behind to continue the struggle.
-David Mark Greaves

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