Happy Birthday Paul Robeson!!!
April 9, 1898
It frightens me that I only learned of one of America’s greatest Renaissance men and social activists by pure chance.
Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson has one of those resumes that should be memorized and recited by schoolchildren as evidence of the American Dream in action: the son of an escaped slave, he was a scholar, an athlete, a lawyer, an orator, an actor, a linguist, a singer, and a dedicated advocate for his race and working people the world over.
He was also uncomfortably progressive in his political leanings in a time when that was utterly unacceptable, which is why I had to casually stumble across a reference to him in a Jessica Mitford autobiography. You see, after World War II—at the pinnacle of his fame and success—our country of opportunity labeled him a damn filthy communist and an instigator and proceeded to successfully and neatly wipe Mr. Robeson clean out of the record of the 20th century.
From an early age, Paul Robeson displayed oratory skill, academic aptitude, and athletic prowess beyond the norm and developed them in the faces of overwhelming obstacles. He won a scholarship to Rutgers University despite the manipulative machinations of his racist high school principal. He became an All-American football player despite the brutal injuries inflicted by both his own teammates and unfriendly opponents who objected to playing on the same field (and getting their ass whooped) by an African American (he was also on the baseball, basketball, and track teams during his Rutgers years). He was the valedictorian of the class that shunned him socially; and he might just be the only graduate of Colombia Law School to have to “fall back” on acting as a career. He walked out of his first and only legal job after a white secretary refused to take his dictation.
All impressive enough, no doubt, but the pièce de résistance of the awesomeness that was Paul Robeson was undoubtedly his voice… That voice! It was rich and mellifluous and powerful enough to rocket him to super-stardom in the 1920s and 30s. On the radio, in a film, on the stage, in a concert hall—Mr. Robeson was one of the first Black celebrities and he was everywhere.
He had a particularly important role in popularizing and preserving the “Negro” spirituals of his ancestors, which were in great danger of falling by the cultural wayside. He argued for their importance as American folk music and performed them in London, Vienna, and any number of humbler venues in between.
He also combined his love of folk music with his love of languages (he was fluent in several languages and studied African dialects, among others) by adding international tunes to his repertoire.
Indeed, it was this touring that led to his larger political awakening. Always an outspoken proponent of his race and their liberation, he began to expand his political horizons during the 1930s when the entire world was beginning to take sides in the long run-up to World War II. He happened upon a group of demonstrating Welsh miners and marched with them, eventually sending them home with a train car full of supplies for their families and laying the foundation for a long and loving relationship. He became active in the labor movement. He visited the Soviet Union and was so enchanted with the lack of racism that he sent his son to school there for a year. He visited the front lines of the conflict in Spain and sang songs in many languages to the hodge-podge of nationalities that made up the International Brigade. He began to understand the brotherhood of all oppressed men. He came to believe in the compassionate power of socialism and, most urgently, the need to squash fascism in all of its brutal, ugly incarnations. He spoke with increasing vehemence about the need to end colonialism in Africa.
The political climate shifted rapidly after World War II. America was getting into a chilly, pseudo-war and suddenly Mr. Robeson’s expressions of friendship for the Soviet Union, his Communist friends, his socialist leanings, his unnatural interest in the labor movement, and the fact that he was turning more and more concerts halls into soapboxes from which to preach his doctrine of liberation for the oppressed seemed extremely suspicious to the US government. And thus began the tragic process of erasing Paul Robeson from the American mainstream.
He was dragged before the House on Un-American Activities Committee. His All-American football status disappeared. His passport was removed and he was banned from leaving the US. Work offers dried up. Paul Robeson went from being a beloved film star and singer to one of the most hated men in America.
But even though he was reviled by the powers that be, he was even more beloved by those he had sacrificed everything to defend. He was an honorary member of many unions and continued to fight avidly for their rights; in 1949, they got to return the favor. Mr. Robeson was to appear at a concert to benefit the Civil Rights Congress. Threats of violence ensued almost immediately—before the day was through cars were smashed, people were beaten, foul and vicious epithets were hurled while the police watched. Yet on September 4, 1949, Paul Robeson performed his program, surrounded by a human shield of longshoremen and electrical workers and various other burly union men who locked arms and sang “We Shall Not be Moved.”
Paul Robeson continued to preach his gospel against oppression until his retirement due to poor health in 1963 (an event that many—including myself and his son Paul Robeson, Jr.—believe the US Government was behind. Click here to read about his son’s charges that MK Ultra was behind his father’s collapse). But he had the satisfaction, before his death in 1976, of seeing a few things change in this country. The Civil Rights movement filled him with joy, and the anti-Red hysteria had abated enough by his 75th birthday for a star-studded tribute at Carnegie Hall.
There is no doubt that the golden voice was silenced before its time. But Paul Robeson’s message lives on for those who choose to listen. There is still grave injustice in our own country and abroad, and I wish I could hear the powerful indictments and encouragements he would doubtlessly have delivered on a spectrum of issues from Hurricane Katrina and Abu Ghraib to the current economic shitstorm brought about by greed and carelessness.
I can think of nothing better to close with than a snippet from his testimony before HUAC. When confronted with his love of Russia, and asked why he didn’t just move there already (HUAC questioning was notoriously petty, I’m amazed they didn’t ask him why he didn’t marry Russia if he loved it so much), he responded:
“Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I’m going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you. And no fascist-minded people like you will drive me from it. Is that clear?”
Loud and clear, Mr. Robeson. And thank you for sticking to it.
Click here for more of Hux’s favorite Robeson resources.
April 9, 2010 at 10:25 am | Happy Birthday! | 1 comment
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