Paul Robeson
Voice of a Century
by Paul Robeson, Jr.
The enduring recorded voice of Paul Robeson had a profound effect on
American culture for three decades the 1920s, the 1930s and the 1940s.
Born in 1898 the son of a former slave, Robeson rose from humble origins
to unprecedented heights: scholar-athlete, world-renowned concert singer,
star of eleven feature films, member of the National Theater Hall of Fame,
member of the National College Football Hall of Fame, and recipient of
the NAACPs Spingarn Medal.
By 1945 my father's recordings were so well known that in America and
most other parts of the world, if you said Paul, everyone knew you meant
Paul Robeson. Today, the recorded sound of what many have called the voice
of the century is returning to America's cultural mainstream as the celebration
of the centennial of my father's birth unfolds around the globe after a
half-century of banishment.
The extraordinary achievements and impressive nobility of Paul Robeson
(1898 1976) made an indelible imprint on the history of the twentieth century,
and his unshakable belief in the oneness of humankind inspired people all
over the world. My father's accomplishments as a two-year All-America football
player, as the world's top concert singer for a decade, as the first Black
film actor to star in dignified roles, and as the only Black charter member
of the National Theater Hall of Fame are amazing taken separately; together,
they remain unmatched. A forerunner of the African Awareness and Civil
Rights movements, Robeson in the mid-1920s pointed with pride to the culture
of ancient Africa and 25 years later spoke of striking at the complete
liberation of the Negro people in our time.
The reviews of Paul Robeson's first concert season of 1925-1926 referred
explicitly and even reverently to the cultural significance of his artistry.
On April 20, 1925, the music critic of the New York Times wrote: His Negro
Spirituals...hold in them a world of religious experience; it is their
cry from the depths, this universal humanism, that touches the heart...Sung
by one man, they voiced the sorrow and hopes of a people. My father went
on to establish the Negro Spiritual for the first time as an accepted art
form on the American concert stage.
He continued his demolition of Black stereotypes with his definitive
interpretation of the title role in Shakespeare's Othello, causing a leading
British Shakespearean critic, John Dover Wilson, to call the Robeson performance
on Broadway in 1943-1944 the most notable one in the present century. Rudolph
Elie, Jr., the Variety critic, concluded that Robeson's performance is
of such a stature that no white man should ever dare to presume to play
it again. Margaret Webster, the director of that record-breaking production
with Jose Ferrer as Iago and Uta Hagen as Desdemona, spoke of my father's
impact in a 1971 radio interview:
Paul brought qualities with him which I never have seen equaled before
or since. The moment he stepped on that stage, he was not only a Black
man but a great Black man a man of stature. Somehow or other, he put the
play in focus.
My father achieved this result by developing a nontraditional approach
to the role:
Othello has killed Desdemona. From savage passion? No. Othello came
from a culture as great as that of ancient Venice. He came from an Africa
of equal stature, and he felt he was betrayed his honor was betrayed, and
his human dignity was betrayed.
The impact of Paul Robeson's powerful and dignified stage image on America's
popular culture at that time more than fifty years ago was enormous when
one considers that the minstrel show was then a virtually unchallenged
cultural institution nationwide.
My father's third challenge to the cultural foundations of American
racism was his transformation of the immensely popular theme song of the
famous musical Show Boat Ol' Man River from a submissive lament to a
defiant rebuke. Jerome Kern, one of the greatest composers of American
musical theater, dedicated the song to my father, and the famous lyricist,
Oscar Hammerstein II, wrote the original words. My father's rendition of
it captivated audiences around the world and became his artistic signature.
The original lyrics are still sung today. My father's decision to challenge
American racism head-on was based on his refusal to accept the terms under
which non-whites were included in American society. Although he had been
accepted as the equal of whites because of his extraordinary achievements,
he rejected the framework of the society as he found it and demanded fundamental
social, political, economic, and cultural change. He insisted that not
just outstanding Black individuals but the entire African-American people
be accepted as full citizens into all aspects of national life on the basis
of full equality.
Paul Robeson's combination of extraordinary personal achievement with
dedicated commitment to the interests of his people was based not only
on talent and character but also on the strong values of the Black slave
tradition that his father passed on to him. These values are universal,
but they are especially relevant to today's generation of Black Americans,
offering a moral anchor in troubled times.
First: Be the best that you can possibly be, striving for perfection
instead of trying merely to excel others.
Second: To succeed without advancing the interests of our people
as a whole, without helping those who have fallen behind, is worthless.
Third: The human race is one family with diverse but equal members,
and a deeper understanding of one's own culture leads to a better appreciation
of other cultures.
Fourth: Personal growth based on inner motivation, rather than
the imitation of role models, is the mother of greatness, but its price
is pain and perseverance.
Fifth: Temper strength and power with gentleness and compassion;
combine courage with wisdom.
Sixth: Don't go along to get along; be willing to sacrifice for
what you know is right.
My father's nobility stemmed from his internalization of these values,
and the clarity of his inner vision enabled him to personify images of
strength and dignity with a universal appeal. The late James Baldwin
alluded to Paul Robeson's historic cultural stature and his symbolic meaning
to the younger generations in the following eloquent passage of an open
letter written in 1977 on behalf of a group of Black notables who were
protesting against a Broadway play titled Paul Robeson which, they felt,
trivialized Robeson's life and misrepresented his character:
Robeson is not yet a historical figure, has not yet entered the limbo
of the public domain. He lives overwhelmingly, in the hearts and minds
of the people whom he touched, the people for whom he was an example, the
people who gained from him the power to perceive and the courage to resist.
It is not a sentimental question. He lived in our times, we lived in his.
My father's personality left an indelible impression on all those with
whom he came in contact audiences, acquaintances, and friends. A famous
Black radical, the late C.L.R. James, said of Robeson: To have spent half
an hour in his company or to have 10 minutes alone with him was something
that you remembered for days; and if I had to sum up his personality, I
would say it was the combination of immense power and great gentleness.
Today, Paul Robeson's wondrous voice leaves an indelible impression,
and Old Man River just keeps rolling along. Following are comments from
him:
Join with us in continuing to fight until in all sections of this
fair land there will be equal opportunities for all, and character shall
be the standard of excellence; until Black and white shall clasp friendly
hands in the consciousness of the fact that we are all brethren and that
God is the father of us all.
Paul Robeson, 1919
One of the great measures of a people is its culture. We boast
of the culture of ancient Africa.
Paul Robeson, 1924
When I sing my Spirituals, in which is the whole history of my
race, it is then, more than at any other time, that I am liable to be caught
away, and feel and know, that God exists, and God is love.
Paul Robeson, 1932
In my music, my plays, my films, I want to carry always this central
idea to be African.
Paul Robeson, 1934
The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery.
I have made my choice. I had no alternative.
Paul Robeson, 1937
Deep down, I had imagined Negroes of the South beaten, subservient,
cowed. But I see them now courageous and possessors of a profound and instinctive
dignity, a race of such magnificence of spirit that there exists no power
on earth that could crush them. They will bend, but they will never break.
Paul Robeson, 1942
I am looking for freedom - full freedom, not an inferior brand.
Paul Robeson, 1949
As I see it, freedom can be ours, here and now: the long-sought
goal of full citizenship under the Constitution is now within our reach.
We have the power to achieve that goal what we ourselves do will be decisive.
Paul Robeson, 1957
Even as I grew to feel more Negro in spirit, or African as I put
it then, I also came to feel a sense of oneness with the white working
people whom I came to know and love. This belief in the oneness of humankind
has existed within me side by side with my deep attachment to the cause
of my own race. Some people have seen a contradiction in this duality.
I do not think, however, that my sentiments are contradictory; I learned
that there truly is a kinship among us all, a basis for mutual respect
and brotherly love.
Paul Robeson, 1958
I am the same Paul, dedicated as ever to the worldwide cause of
humanity for freedom, peace and brotherhood. Here at home, my heart is
with the continuing struggles of my own people to achieve complete liberation
from racist domination, and to gain for all Black Americans and the other
minority groups not only equal rights but an equal share. Though ill health
has compelled my retirement, you can be sure that in my heart I go on singing:
But I keeps laughing instead of crying; I must keep fighting
until I'm dying;
And Ol' Man River, he just keeps rolling along.
Paul Robeson, 1973
Copyright (c) 1997, by Paul Robeson, Jr.
Editor's note: Paul Robeson, pronounced as two syllables, spoke
and wrote more than 20 languages, including several African languages,
Chinese, Russian, and Arabic. He was one of the first Blacks to play and
star in professional football. He was the third Black graduate of Columbia
Law School. He was the first Black lawyer to enter one of New York's most
prestigious law firms. He was one of America's greatest concert and interpretive
artists. He was the first concert artist, along with Roland Hayes, and
later Marian Anderson, to raise Black spirituals to their rightful place
of respect, in the best concert halls of the world. He was an accomplished
musicologist. He was the actor who gave the most memorable performance
and profound interpretation of Shakespeare's Othello in modern times. He
was an inspiration to the American labor movement. He was the son of a
slave who escaped to freedom at 15. He knew W.E.B. Dubois, Langston Hughes,
Richard Wright, Claude McKay, Carl Van Vechten, Lena Horne, W.C. Handy,
Mirian Anderson, Leontyne Price, Cab Calloway, Leadbelly, Joe Louis, Carl
Sandburg, Willa Cather, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. And they
knew him as well.
He was a brilliant man proud of his African heritage, proud of his blackness.
April 9, 1998 is the centennial of his birth. Let us celebrate a great
Black man who has inspired us all.
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