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Books by and About
Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson (Lives of the Left) /
Here I Stand /
Paul Robeson Speaks /
The Undiscovered Paul Robeson , An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939
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Paul Robeson: The Years of Promise And
Achievement
Raul Robeson: Citizen of the World
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The Young Paul Robeson: On My Journey Now
Paul Robeson: The Great Forerunner /
Paul
Robeson the Life and Times of a Free Black Man
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Join
Us on Tuesday, August 2 For the Panel and Community Dialogue
The
State of Black-Asian Relations
Interrogating
Black-Asian Coalition
Fifty
Years After Bandung
(1955-2005)
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Greetings to Bandung
By Paul
Robeson
Greetings to Bandung
How I
should have loved to be at Bandung! In this Indonesian city for
the week beginning April 18 the hopes of mankind were centered.
Of course, the State Department still arrogantly and arbitrarily
restricts my movements to the continental United States, so that
I could not join the representatives of more than half the world
who convened in the Asian-African Conference.
I felt
impelled, however, to send a message to this historic conference
and am happy to share that message with you in this month's
column:
Heartfelt
greetings to all of you, peoples come from the shores of the
Ganges and the Nile, the Yangtse and the Niger. Nations of the
vast Pacific waters, greetings on this historic occasion. It is
my profound conviction that the very fact of the convening of
the Conference of Asian and African nations at Bandung,
Indonesia, in itself will be recorded as an historic turning
point in all world affairs. A new vista of human advancement in
all spheres of life has been opened by this assembly. Conceived,
convoked, and attended by representatives of the majority of the
world's population in Asia and Africa who have long been
subjected to colonial serfdom and foreign domination, the
Asian-African Conference signalizes the power and the
determination of the peoples of these two great continents to
decide their own destiny, to achieve and defend their sovereign
independence, to control the rich resources of their own lands,
and to contribute to the promotion of world peace and
cooperation.
The time
has come when the colored peoples of the world will no longer
allow the great natural wealth of their countries to be
exploited and expropriated by the Western world while they are
beset by hunger, disease and poverty. It is clearly evident that
these evils can be eradicated and that the economic, social and
cultural advancement of whole populations of hundreds of
millions of people can be rapidly achieved, once modern science
and industrialization are applied and directed toward raising
the general level of well being of peoples rather than toward
the enrichment of individuals and corporations.
The
possibility and practicability of such rapid social advancement
have been attested by those who have objectively examined the
history of the Soviet Union since 1917 and developments during
the last decade in the countries of Eastern Europe, in China,
and in newly emancipated Asian countries such as India.
I have
long had a deep and abiding interest in the cultural relations
of Asia and Africa. Years ago I began my studies of African and
Asian languages and learned about the rich and age-old cultures
of these mother continents of human civilization. The living
evidence of the ancient kinship of Africa and Asia is seen in
the language structures, in the arts and philosopies of the two
continents. Increased exchange of such closely related cultures
cannot help but bring into flower a richer, more vibrant voicing
of the highest aspirations of colored peoples the world over.
Indeed
the fact that the Asian and African nations, possessing similar
yet different cultures, have come together to solve their common
problems must stand as a shining example to the rest of the
world. Discussion and mutual respect are the first ingredients
for the development of peace between nations. If other nations
of the world follow the example set by the Asian-African
nations, there can be developed an alternative to the policy of
force and an end to the threat of H-Bomb war. The people of Asia
and Africa have a direct interest in such a development since it
is a well known fact that thermonuclear weapons have been used
only against the peoples of Asia. There is at present a threat
to once more use them against an Asian people.
I fully
endorse the objectives of the Conference to prevent any such
catastrophe, which would inevitably bring about suffering and
annihilation to all the peoples of the world. Throughout the
world all decent people must applaud the aims of the Conference
to make the maximum contribution of the Asian and African
countries to the cause of world peace.
One of
the most important causes of world tension has been and
continues to be imperialist enslavement of nations. Peace in
Asia is directly linked with the problems of freedom and full
sovereign rights for the nations of Asia. As for Africa, most of
that vast continent, as we know, still groans in chains. In
North Africa, in Kenya, East Africa, and in other areas
imperialist terror has been unleashed in an attempt to keep
freedom-aspiring peoples in subjection. South Africa feels the
lash of the redoubled racist fury of her white ruling class. For
this is the time for liberation, and Africa too shall shout in
freedom. Soon. Yes, now is our day!
The
demand of Africa and Asia for independence from alien domination
and exploitation finds warm support among democratic-minded
peoples everywhere. Although the calling of the Bandung
Conference evoked bitter words of displeasure from high circles
in Washington, the common people of America have not forgotten
that our own country was founded in a revolution of colonies
against a foreign tyranny -- a revolution proclaiming that all
nations have a right to independence under a government of their
own choice.
To the
Negro people of the United States and the Caribbean Islands it
was good news -- great good news -- to hear that the Bandung
Conference had been called "to consider problems of special
interest . . . racialism and colonialism." Typical of the
Negro people's sentiments are these words from one of our
leading weekly newspapers: "Negro Americans should be
interested in the proceedings at Bandung. We have fought this
kind of fight for more than 300 years and have a vested interest
in the outcome."
How I
would love to see my brothers from Africa, India, China,
Indonesia and from all the people represented at Bandung. In
your midst are old friends I knew in London years ago, where I
first became part of the movement for colonial freedom -- the
many friends from India and Africa and the West Indies with whom
I shared hopes and dreams of a new day for the oppressed colored
peoples of the world. And I might have come as an observer had I
been granted a passport by the State Department whose lawyers
have argued that "in view of the applicant's frank
admission that he has been fighting for the freedom of the
colonial people of Africa . . . the diplomatic embarrassment
that could arise from the presence abroad of such a political
meddler (sic!) travelling under the protection of an American
passport, is easily imaginable!"
So all
the best to all of you. Together with all of progressive
mankind, with lovers of peace and freedom everywhere, I salute
your history-making conference.
Source:
"Here's
My Story," Freedom, April 1955
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Paul Robeson was the epitome of the
20th-century Renaissance man. He was an exceptional
athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author,
and political activist. His talents made him a
revered man of his time, yet his radical political
beliefs all but erased him from popular history.
Today, more than one hundred years after his birth,
Robeson is just beginning to receive the credit he
is due.
Born in 1898,
Paul Robeson grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. His
father had escaped slavery and become a Presbyterian
minister, while his mother was from a distinguished
Philadelphia family. At seventeen, he was given a
scholarship to Rutgers University, where he received
an unprecedented twelve major letters in four years
and was his class valedictorian. After graduating he
went on to Columbia University Law School, and, in
the early 1920s, took a job with a New York law
firm. Racial strife at the firm ended Robeson’s
career as a lawyer early, but he was soon to find an
appreciative home for his talents. |
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Returning to his love of
public speaking, Robeson began to find work as an actor. In the
mid-1920s he played the lead in
Eugene
O’Neill’s
All God’s Chillun Got Wings (1924) and
The Emperor Jones (1925). Throughout the late 1920s and
1930s, he was a widely acclaimed
actor and singer. With songs such as his trademark “Ol’ Man
River,” he became one of the most popular concert singers of his
time.
His Othello was the
longest-running Shakespeare play in Broadway history, running
for nearly three hundred performances. It is still considered
one of the great-American Shakespeare productions. While his
fame grew in the United States, he became equally well-loved
internationally. He spoke fifteen languages, and performed
benefits throughout the world for causes of social justice. More
than any other performer of his time, he believed that the
famous have a responsibility to fight for justice and peace. . .
. He retired to Philadelphia and lived in self-imposed seclusion
until his death in 1976.
To this day, Paul Robeson’s
many accomplishments remain obscured by the propaganda of those
who tirelessly dogged him throughout his life. His role in the
history of civil rights and as a spokesperson for the oppressed
of other nations remains relatively unknown. In 1995, more than
seventy-five years after graduating from Rutgers, his athletic
achievements were finally recognized with his posthumous entry
into the College Football Hall of Fame. Though a handful of
movies and recordings are still available, they are a sad
testament to one of the greatest Americans of the twentieth
century. If we are to remember Paul Robeson for anything, it
should be for the courage and the dignity with which he
struggled for his own personal voice and for the rights of all
people.—PBS
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The Professor and the Pupil
The Politics and Friendship of W. E. B Du Bois and
Paul Robeson
By Murali
Balaji
Though honored
as two of the most influential African-American
leaders of the past century, journalist and novelist
Balaji (House of Tinder) compensates in this
political biography for "revisionist" historians who
regularly omit Du Bois and Robeson's long-standing
involvement with the Communist Party, distorting
their impact on anti-colonial and radical political
thought, eroding their legacies and diminishing
their courage in the face of McCarthyism. Du Bois
(1868-1963) began his career as an academic and
authored 34 books, most notably
The Souls of Black Folk, co-founded the
NAACP and was an early advocate of Pan-Africanism.
Best known for his Show Boat performance of "Ol' Man
River" and his portrayal of Shakespeare's Othello,
Robeson (1898-1976) gained international celebrity
status (called "America's No. 1 Negro") with
starring roles on Broadway and the London stage.
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With both narrative chronology and close reading of their work,
Balaji demonstrates how over time each became more radical,
moved into the communist orbit in the 1930's, and ultimately met
professional defeat in the 1950's when they refused to recant
their convictions. Though overly detailed and occasionally
rambling, this book provides a sharp look into an often
overlooked aspect of black history.—
Publishers Weekly
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The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Weekly |
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Most provocatively, she reveals how both the move
toward colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
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Race, Incarceration, and American Values
By
Glenn C. Loury
In this
pithy discussion, renowned scholars debate
the American penal system through the
lens—and as a legacy—of an ugly and violent
racial past. Economist Loury argues that
incarceration rises even as crime rates fall
because we have become increasingly
punitive. According to Loury, the
disproportionately black and brown prison
populations are the victims of civil rights
opponents who successfully moved the
country's race dialogue to a seemingly
race-neutral concern over crime. Loury's
claims are well-supported with genuinely
shocking statistics, and his argument is
compelling that even if the racial argument
about causes is inconclusive, the racial
consequences are clear.
Three
shorter essays respond: Stanford law
professor Karlan examines prisoners as an
inert ballast in redistricting and voting
practices; French sociologist Wacquant
argues that the focus on race has ignored
the fact that inmates are first and foremost
poor people; and Harvard philosophy
professor |
Shelby urges citizens to break with Washington's
political outlook on race. The group's respectful
sparring results in an insightful look at the
conflicting theories of race and incarceration, and the
slim volume keeps up the pace of the argument without
being overwhelming.—Publishers
Weekly
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I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin's Life
in Letters
Edited by Michael G. Long
Bayard Rustin has been called the
“lost prophet” of the Civil Rights
Movement, a master strategist and
organizer of the 1963 March on
Washington and a deeply influential
figure in the life of Martin Luther
King Jr. Despite these achievements,
Rustin often remained in the
background, largely because he was
an openly gay man in a fiercely
homophobic era. Published on the
centennial of his birth, and in
anticipation of the 50th anniversary
of the historic March on Washington,
I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life
in Letters are his
words shining through a collection
of more than 150 of Rustin’s
letters. His correspondents include
major figures of his day — for
example, Eleanor Holmes Norton, A.
Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, Ella
Baker and of course, Martin Luther
King Jr. “I have file boxes full of
Rustin’s letters that I tracked down
in archives across the country,”
said book editor Michael G. Long.
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“The
time it took to complete the research was much
longer than I had predicted, not just because of the
number of letters I had in hand, but also especially
because for their high quality. It was incredibly
difficult to weed out those letters I really liked
but that did not serve the purpose of putting
together a publishable narrative of letters. And
there are quite a few of those that are topically
fascinating but not easily fitting for a narrative.”—phillytrib
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
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January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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