Paulwasatruehero

Black Lives Matter and the most impressive advocate for this that I have ever seen in my lifetime was Paul Robeson, one of the top bass singers of last century, a most important fighter for black liberation who also allied himself to all those seeking social and economic justice and peace of all hues.

He was the youngest of seven children born to a runaway slave who had later obtained an Honours Degree and become a Presbyterian Minister in a black church. His mother was a Quaker teacher from a political family active in the abolitionist movement. She tragically died when the sleeve of her dress caught fire while she was cooking. Her agony lasted three days. Paul was five years old and part of a wider family and church community which must have helped a bit. He remained involved in the church all his life. He grew to be 6’3’ and athletic, so won a sports scholarship to Rutgers

University where his football team mates beat him up badly for being a black in their team. He was only the third ever black student. He went on to be a great athletic and academic success, being “a speaker of deep thought and marvellous ability who took the class oratorical prize four years in a row,” later to become a lawyer.

He then moved on to become a top star of theatre, film and concert hall. He had great presence, enormous charm, a beautiful speaking voice as well as the finest bass voice you could ever hear. An intellectual, he fought his people’s struggle,(he always described

himself as an African American). He allied himself also with American workers and trade unions. He made strong links with the Spanish

People’s struggle against Fascism and sang to the Republican troops in the Spanish Civil War. He came to UK to act on stage in 1928 in Othello and made it his base for 12 years. He had particularl strong bonds with Welsh miners , concerned as he was with all working people, their often dreadful working conditions and poverty. He was particularly impressed with Russia where the leaders and the people made a great fuss of him and his deep singing voice which Russian music uses a lot.

Despite Jewish friends there being jailed and worse over the years he never openly criticised the set-up there.

He returned to America from the UK at the time of the Second World War to be with “my people”in order to work for black freedom. He spoke to President Truman about black men being lynched in the South- even in US military uniforms- but nothing was done. At one point he gave up singing for two years except as part of his political campaigning for black rights. He came to be seen by officialdom as someone who would destabilise the status quo and the state. He was called before the Committee for Un American Activities and accused of being a member of the Communist Party. He refused to testify on principle. He never spoke against Russia and this became his problem. He may have been a communist by America’s wide definition or may even have been a member, but many actors and people who just had left-wing views suffered a witch hunt and lost employment or worse. He described himself as a democrat and socialist. Made subject to house arrest, his passport was removed, he was hounded and was unable to work. His main crime was rocking the boat and criticising America at home and abroad for not coming up to its own ideals of egalitarianism as per the Constitution. He also talked of peace a lot which was not popular when the Cold War was the theme. I saw Paul Robeson in 1949 in Liverpool. He sang from the back of a

lorry to a huge crowd on a bomb site for free. It was the first time I ever saw a black woman and there were two.( I had seen many black American troops during the war near Prestwick Airport in Scotland.) He sang again in the evening in a Liverpool concert hall.

He went home to the US soon after that to house arrest .When he got his passport back in 1958 he came to Stratford upon Avon to the Royal

Shakespeare Co to play Othello with Mary Ure as Desdemona. I went from Ayr Academy in a trainload of school pupils overnight each way with the day spent in Stratford. What a play, what an experience! Pupils came from all over the UK. My future husband came to see the play from Staffordshire with his school long before we met. It is hard to meet an American who knows of him, I have never heard any fighter for black equality mention his name. He is written out of US history. Much the same here, and yet, like Nelson Mandela, he was given the Freedom of Glasgow. His later life was that of a recluse and very sad, I think he perhaps became depressed a few times in his life, or maybe just disillusioned.

If I ever see Paul Robeson given his rightful place, then I will know that Black Lives Matter. I hope it is soon. Esther Clark,Ronaldshaw Park, Ayr