Here’s another lovely (and swingin’) African-American Spiritual with minority rights-conscious lyrics (“Ain’t no signs of hate, in my Father’s house… Folks all integrate, Ha, in my Father’s house…”) brought to the American mainstream by Harry Belafonte and The Ed Sullivan Show on March 29, 1964. After singing “Folks all integrate,” Belafonte breaks the fourth wall and sarcastically interjects, “Ha” directly to the audience shortly after the 2:13 mark in the video, dramatically communicating, perhaps, the activist-singer’s belief that racial integration or even mere hate-reduction, were still a long way off in 1964.
Harry Belafonte Delivers Simmering Civil Rights Spiritual, “In My Father’s House,” on The Ed Sullivan Show
