BY OSV NEWS  |  CATHOLIC STANDARD

Photo: Harry Belafonte and Servant of God Thea Bowman in an undated archival photo. Balafonte met Bowman at Xavier University in 1988. (OSV News photo/courtesy Xavier University of Louisiana, Archives & Special Collections)

Many are remembering how Harry Belafonte, who died April 25 in New York at age 96, was so inspired by the life ministry of Sister Thea Bowman that he had planned to make a film about her.

In turn, the singer, actor and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s, inspired others, including Chicago’s Father Michael Pfleger, senior pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina in Chicago, who is himself an outspoken advocate against gun violence, gangs, poverty and racism.