The Undiscovered Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson

Description

The eagerly awaited second volume of Paul Robeson Jr.'s acclaimed biography of his father, the legendary singer, actor, and social activist.

The greatest scholar-athlete-performing artist in U.S. history, Paul Robeson was one of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century. In this final volume of his groundbreaking biography, Paul Robeson Jr. tells the untold, inside story of his father's life from World War II until his death, including his fight against racism and injustice and his courageous defiance of persecution by government agencies.

• Breaks new ground, using unpublished photographs and source materials from private diaries, letters, and government documents
• Offers unprecedented insight into how Robeson bridged the contradictions of his personal and public life
• Praised as "an accomplished and moving memoir" (Boston Globe, on Vol. 1) and "an important, well-wrought addition to African-American, Cold War and theater scholarship" (Publishers Weekly)

Revealing a multifaceted figure who moved among major roles as a performer, political activist, husband, and father, The Undiscovered Paul Robeson traces the dramatic arc of one of the world's most distinguished performing artists and passionate leaders in the fight for universal human rights.
Preface: "I Am Looking for Freedom".

Acknowledgments.

I. "America's Number One Negro" (1939–1945).

1. The Calling (1939–1940).

2. The Quest (1941).

3. Hero and Enemy (1942–1943).

4. The Robeson Othello (1943–1945).

II. Against the Tide (1945–1949).

5. Challenging the Mighty (1945–1946).

6. Storm Warnings (1946–1948).

7. Into the Eye of the Storm (1949).

8. Peekskill, New York (1949).

III. Paying the Price (1950–1958).

9. Struggle for Survival (1950–1954).

10. Victory over Despair (1955–1956).

11. Rising from the Ashes (1957–1958).

IV. Journey to Jerusalem (1958–1976).

12. A Hero's Welcome (1958–1960).

13. CIA Ambush? (1961–1963).

14. A Temporary Reprieve (1963–1965).

15. "No Cross; No Crown" (1965–1976).

Notes.

Index.

Sujets

• Ethnic
• Cultural
• Biography
• African-American history
• Regional
• Paul Robeson
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 21 décembre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470569689
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents
 
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
PREFACE
Acknowledgements
 
I - “AMERICA’S NUMBER ONE NEGRO” (1939-1945)
 
Chapter 1 - THE CALLING
Chapter 2 - THE QUEST
Chapter 3 - HERO AND ENEMY
Chapter 4 - THE ROBESON OTHELLO
 
II - AGAINST THE TIDE
Chapter 5 - CHALLENGING THE MIGHTY
Chapter 6 - STORM WARNINGS
Chapter 7 - INTO THE EYE OF THE STORM
Chapter 8 - PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK
 
III - PAYING THE PRICE
Chapter 9 - STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
Chapter 10 - VICTORY OVER DESPAIR
Chapter 11 - RISING FROM THE ASHES
 
IV - JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM
Chapter 12 - A HERO’S WELCOME
Chapter 13 - CIA AMBUSH?
Chapter 14 - A TEMPORARY REPRIEVE
Chapter 15 - “NO CROSS; NO CROWN”
 
NOTES
INDEX

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

  Copyright © 2010 by Paul Robeson Jr. All rights reserved
 
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
 
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eISBN : 978-0-470-56968-9
 

 
To my late son, David, who possessed vision beyond his years, gave of himself to many, and bore burdens which were too heavy.
To my daughter, Susan, who deeply understands my father’s spirit.
To my wife, Marilyn, whose dedicated and loving support made it possible for me to finish this book.
The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.
—PAUL ROBESON, 1937
PREFACE
“I AM LOOKING FOR FREEDOM”
In this second volume of The Undiscovered Paul Robeson , which covers the years from 1939 until my father’s death in 1976, I have drawn heavily upon the vast collection of family papers, photographs, clippings, and phonograph records that my mother, Eslanda, gathered and preserved over more than four decades. These materials make up the Paul and Eslanda Robeson Collections and are deposited at Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center in Washington, D.C. However, my personal insights and my feel for the historical context of the latter part of Paul Robeson’s story derive primarily from the direct experiences I shared with him over thirty - six years.
My relationship with my father broadened and deepened as I matured and he gradually shared more aspects of his life with me. Like him, I loved music, sports, chess, the Russian language, and reading. He went to considerable lengths to stimulate those interests of mine, and especially to help me develop a growing intellectual curiosity. He was a thinker and a teacher at heart, and derived great pleasure from mind games with ever-changing rules. I found such encounters fascinating and rewarding, because from them I learned as much about his way of thinking as I did about the subjects he illuminated for me.
During my college years, he introduced me to his closest circle of friends, took me along to his rehearsals and performances. We had long conversations about politics, culture, race, and ideology. When I was twenty-one, he accepted me into his inner council of advisers, and I worked closely with him in several different capacities during the next twenty-five years.
While it is true that a son’s perspective is inevitably personal, mine is also closely informed by my father’s words and eyewitness accounts of his life and times.
In this volume, I tell the dual story of my father’s rise to the pinnacle of success and his determined use of this stature to advance the struggle of his people for full U.S. citizenship. By the mid-1940s, he symbolized the best in America and his name was a household word to millions. He had become a superstar, referred to as “America’s Number One Negro.” 1 Throughout his rise, Paul continually challenged the foundations of American racism. As he put it, “I am looking for freedom—full freedom, not an inferior brand. ” 2
Paul’s impact as an artist and spokesperson aroused the opposition of the U.S. government and compelled him to face critical personal, political, and artistic choices. This is the story of the choices he made and their consequences.
 
My first volume of The Undiscovered Paul Robeson , which covered the years 1898-1939, explored the path Paul Robeson traversed as a child of destiny—from motherless child to scholar and athlete, to titan of the theater, concert stage, and film, and then to leading spokesperson for the causes of antiracism, antifascism, and anticolonialism. The vast arc of development encompassed by those forty-one years was anchored to his value system—the cultural traditions of southern field slaves that had been transmitted to him by his father, an escaped field slave who became a minister.
Against the backdrop of the emerging Harlem Renaissance, he established the foundation of his subsequent career. He became an honor student and All-America football star at Rutgers College and financed his studies at Columbia Law School by playing professional football. In 1921, he married Eslanda Cardozo Goode, a Columbia University graduate student two years his senior from a prominent black Washington, D.C., family. Then, with Eslanda’s encouragement and support, he redirected his talents to the performing arts. Six years later, he was being hailed as America’s foremost black actor, a leading recording artist, and a bright new singing star of the concert stage.
To escape the stifling racial environment in the United States, Paul departed to London in 1927 and chose to live there for twelve years, returning home only for concert tours, to make films, and to perform in the theater. In London he found a far more diverse world than the one he had lived in at home. He studied African cultures at London University and met leaders of the anticolonial freedom movements throughout Africa and Asia. His search for folk songs of many lands launched him into the continuous study of a variety of languages, including two African languages, German, Italian, French, Spanish, and especially Russian.
From 1930 through 1932, Paul took the time to reflect upon the personal and public aspects of his burgeoning career. The more he reflected, the more clearly he understood that he had to make some basic personal decisions. He chafed under what he viewed as Eslanda’s excessive control of all aspects of his artistic career, whereas Eslanda felt she had earned the right to an unlimited partnership. She wanted a closed marriage in which she could count on his fidelity, but he insisted that she agree to a discreetly open one. After a stormy two-year separation, Paul ended his vacillation. He resolved to reconcile permanently with Eslanda despite their differences. The skein of their complex relationship remains a central aspect of my narrative in this volume.
In 1934, Paul, who was fluent in Russian, accepted an invitation from the famous Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein to visit the Soviet Union. En route to Moscow, he had to change trains in Hitler’s Berlin. After being menaced by a ring of Nazi storm troopers on the station platform just before boarding the Moscow train, he likened the city’s racial climate to that of Mississippi and vowed to “fight fascism wherever I find it from now on. ”
His warm and respectful reception in Russia stood in dramatic contrast with the racist Nazi hostility. Everywhere he went, ordinary Russians and high Soviet officials welcomed him as an honored guest. At the end of the visit he said, “Here for the first time in my life I walk in full human dignity. ” 3
Upon his return to London, he concentrated heavily on his work in commercial film. However, he found that no major studio would permit him to cross the boundary between a tragic black hero who is a victim and an epic black hero who triumphs over all odds. His response was to turn his back on the commercial film industry at the peak of his career. By the mid -1930s, Paul was speaking his mind freely about both cultural and political issues, flouting the custom that constrained artists from taking polit