Paul Robeson. bass-baritone concert artist, actor, lawyer, professional football player & activist- an all around once in a lifetime talent. Here he is with the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (https://youtu.be/ryM5a3ShRJU?si=tE6Uw1kHZsdzgJ1q)Seek medical attention if you aren’t moved
#RetroView #BlackHistoryMonth #PaulRobeson
Happy Black History Month from Alan, and the Valley of the Dolls! #BlackHistoryMonth2025 #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #paulrobeson #civilrights #equalrights #martinlutherking #mlk #dolls #dollcollector #dollphotographer #fashiondolls #vintagedolls #1960s #twentiethcentury
"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?"
— Paul Robeson, actor, writer, singer, lawyer, activist
This quote comes from his testimony when ordered in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 1956. I highly suggest reading his whole testimony.
One of my favorite singers of all time is Paul Robeson. An accomplished athlete and performer, he was adamant and vocal in his fight for civil rights. The McCarthy Committee hounded him due to his visits to the USSR, ruining his acting career. He has only recently been recognized as an athlete and performer, although his performance of "Ole Man River" is easily recognized.
#BlackHistoryMonth #PaulRobeson
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/remembering-paul-robeson-actor-sportsman-and-leader-180961834/
He is also remembered fondly in Wales, of all places
https://cadw.gov.wales/paul-robesons-wales
Paul Robeson and wife Eslanda Goode Robeson are with UCD medical students on their 1935 visit to Dublin. He would later sing about UCD medical student Kevin Barry, killed OTD 1920. "Songs of Struggle" suggests the song was recorded in 1947.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BSjO9rIwn5M
Songs of Struggle:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Songs-Struggle-Rarities-Paul-Robeson/dp/B000BYW7B0
Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda visit with students at the medical school at the University of Dublin. The image includes (back: row third from left) Dr. Noel Holmes who became the Chief Medical Examiner of Jamaica and Dr. Errol Thompson (back row, fifth from left). Dr. Thompson went on to become an Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon in New York and founded the Speech and Hearing Center at Harlem Hospital. The image was contributed by Karen Greene, the daughter of Dr. Errol Thomas.
started a #wikipedia article about Georgia writer, composer, playwright, Nan Bagby Stephens (1883-1946): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nan_Bagby_Stephens @wikiwomeninred #Broadway #OscarMicheaux #PaulRobeson @agnesscott
#OnThisDay in 1976, #PaulRobeson, American stage and screen bass-#baritone #singer ("Old Man River"), actor, and civil rights activist, died of stroke complications in Philadelphia at 77. †
#RIP
He particularly admired Irish literature and music and was an avid reader of WB Yeats.
Paul Robeson signing Joe Hill to Scottish miners in 1949:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0bezsMVU7c
#PaulRobeson #SpanishCivilWar #Ireland #WBYeats
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... and it continued with his support for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War and his involvement in the Council on African Affairs.
He fell foul of senator Joe McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee and had his passport and concerts cancelled. Before then he visited Ireland at least three times and performed in Dublin, Limerick, and Cork in the 1930s.
#PaulRobeson #SpanishCivilWar #Ireland #WBYeats
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Paul Robeson died on 23 January 1976. He was an American concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political stances.
Robeson's political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students in Britain...
#PaulRobeson #SpanishCivilWar #Ireland #WBYeats
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"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?" — #PaulRobeson #BlackHistory
Today in Labor History January 19, 1915: The authorities arrested IWW bard and organizer Joe Hill in Salt Lake City and later convicted him on trumped up murder charges. They executed him 21 months later despite worldwide protests and two attempts to intervene by President Woodrow Wilson. In a letter to Bill Haywood shortly before his death he penned the famous words, "Don't mourn - organize!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0bezsMVU7c
Today in Labor History January 19, 1920: Crystal Eastman, Roger Nash Baldwin, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (from the IWW) and others founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Their original focus was freedom of speech, primarily anti-war speech, and supporting conscientious objectors. In 1923, they defended author Upton Sinclair after he was arrested for trying to read the First Amendment during an IWW rally. In 1925, they persuaded John T. Scopes to defy Tennessee's anti-evolution law in The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. Clarence Darrow, an ACLU member, headed Scopes' legal team. The ACLU lost the case and Scopes was fined $100. In 1926, they defended H. L. Mencken, who deliberately broke Boston law by distributing copies of his banned American Mercury magazine and won their first major acquittal. However, they kicked Elizabeth Gurley Flynn off their board in 1940 because of her Communist affiliations. And they refused defend Paul Robeson and other leftists in the 1950s.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #elizabethgurleyflynn #communism #aclu #evolution #uptonsinclair #PaulRobeson #clarencedarrow #hlmencken #freespeech #antiwar #education #school #freeppress #journalism #firstamendment @bookstadon
Paul Robeson experienced pain and betrayal all his life and he expresses it almost unbearably in his music.
The Wanderer
No man is here my brother
No arms outstretched I see
At night and when I rise
Nor hearth nor home have I
No friend to cheer mine eyes
Or close them when I die
O grieve you now my mother
And shed your tears for me
I know this is a hopeful song, but as sung by Paul Robeson, it hurts my heart. To those of you who can be a light to yourself and others, thank you. We need you so much.
Here is an extraordinary singer, Paul Robeson, who was more actively persecuted than Ochs for his political beliefs singing about Joe Hill who was fitted up and killed by the state for singing and organizing
#gospels sung by #PaulRobeson in the #interwars period.
#interbellum era was not only fun and happiness but also spiritually a busy period.
Listen to this very old #vinyl mono record. Songs like #lazybones
#OnThisDay in 1945, #PaulRobeson wins Spingarn Medal for singing and acting achievements.
