From his mother, Paul inherited a pedigree in the fight for the emancipation of black Americans; Maria Bustills ancestors included Cyras Bustill who founded the Free African Society and Sarah Douglass who founded the Female Anti-Slavery Society. If his mother contributed this to Pauls heritage, it was his father who gave him the means by which he would conduct himself in the face of almost universal condemnation in his native country. Courage, dignity, determination and intelligence, which Paul inherited from his father William, were the means by which he would take on his detractors. Despite his mothers fine legacy, on public occasions Paul preferred to talk about his fathers more humble origins.
At the age of seventeen Paul won a scholarship to Rutgers University, where he would go on to graduate with honours. Here however he came face to face with a new kind of racism, that of the ruling elite, those who would make sure that blacks would be kept in their place for a long time to come. In his first try-outs for the American football team (which had no Blacks on it) Paul was brutally set upon by his fellow students. However such was his determination and courage that he not only tried out again but went on to become the top player for his university. Indeed Paul would go on to be a professional footballer for a few years. Despite this, Paul for the most part enjoyed his time at Rutgers and upon graduating he entered Columbia University to read Law.
Unfortunately Paul soon found that racism existed in the law office just as much as anywhere else, and through a friend broke in to acting and singing. Here he came into contact with the Harlem Renaissance Movement. The Harlem Renaissance was the coming together of Black artists: writers, painters, singers and actors in the Harlem area of New York in the 20s and 30s. One of aims of this movement was to attempt to use culture as a weapon against racism.
It was felt by many at the time that art could bridge the gap between black and white: that the Talented Tenth would raise white awareness of the role that Blacks could play in American society. In this attempt there were two main camps. One led by J.W.Johnson, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples Executive Secretary, who put forward the idea of integration of cultures. The other led by Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. DuBois, who advocated the need to keep what is uniquely black. Paul Robeson followed the line that black people should embrace their African-American cultural identity and not let it be swallowed up by the overpowering prevailing Western culture. This is not to say that he rejected western culture: after all he played Othello many times. However he felt that the hegemony of Western culture would swamp Black culture. In the end the Harlem Renaissance floundered, partly as many ordinary Blacks found it elitist, and disliked the way in which many of the artists copied white dress and mannerisms. Mainly, however, the brutal reality of the Great Depression, which swept America, destroyed the idea of having culture separate from economic and social realties.
By this time Paul had achieved great fame in Europe, particularly Britain, principally for his role as Othello, but also for his film acting and singing. It was in one of these films The Proud Valley that Paul came into contact with the British working class, in particular Welsh miners. The impoverished conditions that they lived in reminded him of the conditions of the Blacks in the USA; this convinced Paul of that the poverty of black and white had the same cause, capitalism.
With this rise in class consciousness and the Spanish civil war raging on Paul felt that he would like to do more to assist the cause of the republic. Assisted by some friends he obtained a visa for his wife Eslanda and himself and went to Spain in 1937. Here he visited and sang at the front line, on some occasions as gunfire raged on in the background.
He also met some of the soldiers and volunteers fighting against Francos fascists, including many Black soldiers. Among these was a thirty-three-year-old volunteer, Oliver Law. Law was a regular army man from Chicago who had never been promoted above private in the US army but was now commandant of the Lincoln Brigade. Paul Robeson wanted to tell his story on film but it never came to fruition. The same money men who blocked aid to Spain, refused to allow such a story to be told, Robeson later said. Law himself later died on the Brunete front
This trip completely politicised Robeson and he became fully committed to the cause of international socialism and in particular the Communist Party. This however, caused him to be isolated in the USA especially in the civil rights movement where his sympathies to the Soviet Union (he sent his son to be educated there) proved to be too much for the liberal section of the movement. This also drew attention from both the FBI and Senator McCarthy. He was called before his committee several times, and became famous for his vigorous defence of the right to belong to any party he wished.
From here on in Robeson was in the firing line, attacked almost wherever he went. One such incident occurred at Peetskill mountain where an out door concert by Robeson only went ahead because a human shield of, blacks, whites, trade unionists, socialists and communists, physically prevented rednecks disrupting the event.
In 1950 the US government withdrew his passport on a trumped up pretext, effectively confining him to internal exile. This act of vindictiveness was universally condemned, with the Scottish Trades Union Congress being one of the first to campaign for the return of his passport. This however, did not stop Robeson performing, in 1952 he held a cross border concert, with him in the USA and his audience in Canada. He also held a transatlantic telephone link up concert, with audiences in Wales and London, before the US government finally gave him his passport back in 1958. This period is evoked in the song Let Robeson Sing, on Manic Street Preachersnew CD, Know Your Enemy.
Paul and his wife left America to tour Europe, receiving huge welcomes wherever he went. His itinerary took him to Scotland several times, where he sang at concerts and on May Day rallies. He also visited the Soviet Union again, where he unfortunately became very ill. The years of persecution had taken their toil on him and he had suffered a physical and mental breakdown. This was to be a recurring illness that was to plague him for years to come.
In 1963 Paul and his wife finally returned to the USA and in 1966 after his wife had succumbed to cancer he moved to Philadelphia to be cared for by his sister until his death in 1976.
In 1997 Harry Belafonte addressed the Veterans of the Lincoln Brigade in New York. He told the audience of a meeting that he had with Paul Robeson shortly before he died. He asked him was all that you went through, really worth it? And Robeson replied: Harry make no mistake: there is no aspect of what I have done that wasnt worth it. Although we may not have achieved all the victories we set for ourselves or all the goals we set for ourselves, beyond the victory itself, infinitely more important, was the journey.
Many years after Paul made that journey, Black America rediscovered Robeson and the early role he played in establishing the Civil Rights movement. He is now regarded along with Malcom X and Martin Luther King as one of the giants in the Pantheon of black American history.
The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.
Paul Robeson (1898-1976)