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'''Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson''' (April 9, 1898–January 23, 1976) concert singer, scholar, actor of film and stage, [[All-American]] and professional athlete, writer, multi-lingual orator and lawyer who was also noted for his wide-ranging radical leftist activism including anti lynching legalization, anti-colonialism and eventually Stalinist Russia. A forerunner of the US [[civil rights]] movement, Robeson was a [[trade union]] activist, Phi Beta Kappa Society laureate, and a recipient of the Spingarn Medal and Stalin Peace Prize. Robeson achieved worldwide fame during his life for his artistic accomplishments, and his outspoken, [[radical]] beliefs which largely clashed with the [[colonial powers]] of [[Western Europe]] and the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] climate of the pre-civil rights [[United States]], thus becoming a prime target during the [[McCarthyist]] era.<ref>Robeson, Susan. ''Paul Robeson: The Whole World in His Hands, a Pictorial Biography'', 1980, pg 13, prologue</ref><ref>Boyle, Shelia Tully. ''Paul Robeson: The Years of Promise and Achievement'', 2001, pg 11 notes on sources</ref><ref name="Duberman Preface">Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, preface</ref><ref>Seton, Marie. ''Paul Robeson'', 1958, pg 57.</ref>

'''Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson''' (April 9, 1898–January 23, 1976) was an American [[actor]] of film and stage, All-American and professional [[athlete]], [[writer]], multi-lingual [[orator]], [[lawyer]], and ''basso profondo'' concert singer who was also noted for his wide-ranging support of [[Josef Stalin]] and [[Communism]]. A forerunner of the [[civil rights]] movement, Robeson was a trade union [[activist]], a so-called "peace activist," [[Phi Beta Kappa Society]] laureate, and a recipient of the Spingarn Medal and [[Stalin Peace Prize]]. His outspoken beliefs and friendships with Communists led to his passport being revoked from 1950 to 1958 under the [[McCarran Act]] and he was under surveillance by the U.S. [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]], [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and by British [[MI5]] for well over three decades until his death in 1976. Robeson pled the [[Fifth Amendment]] before the [[House Unamerican Activities Committee]] when questioned about CPUSA membership.

 

Initially an apolitical artist, Robeson was the first major concert star to popularize the performance of Negro spirituals and was the first black actor of the 20th century to portray [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello]]'' on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]]. As of 2009 Robeson's run in the 1943&ndash;45 ''Othello'' production still holds the record for the longest running Shakespeare play on Broadway. In line with Robeson's vocal dissatisfaction with movie [[stereotype]]s, his roles in both the [[Cinema of the United States|US]] and [[Cinema of the United Kingdom|British film industries]] were some of the first parts ever created that displayed dignity and respect for the African American film actor, paving the way for [[Sidney Poitier]] and [[Harry Belafonte]].<ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 90.</ref>

 

At the height of his fame, Paul Robeson decided to become a primarily political artist, staunchly affiliated with Communist causes, speaking out against [[fascism]] and [[racism]] in the US and abroad as the United States government and many Western European powers failed after [[World War II]] to end [[racial segregation]] and guarantee civil rights for [[people of color]].<ref name="Duberman Preface" /> In Robeson's view, Communism would do more for the liberation of peoples of color then capitalism would. Robeson thus became a prime target of the [[Red Scare]] during the late 1940s through to the late 1950s. His passport was revoked from 1950 to 1958 under the [[McCarran Act]] and he was under surveillance by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and by the British [[MI5]] for well over three decades until his death in 1976. The reasoning behind his persecution centered not only on his beliefs in [[socialism]] and friendship with the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] peoples and open support of [[Joesph Stalin]] but also his Marxist work towards the liberation of the colonized peoples of [[Africa]], the [[Caribbean]], [[Asia]] and the Australian aborigines. Robeson wanted these peoples to overthrow Capitalism in hopes that they would become Communist and controled by the Soviets. Robeson was also targeted for his support of the Soviet backed [[International Brigades]], his efforts to push for anti-[[lynching]] legislation and the [[racial integration]] of [[major league baseball]] among many other causes that challenged white supremacy and advocated Communism on six continents.<ref name="Duberman Preface">Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, preface</ref>

 

Condemnation of Robeson and his beliefs came swiftly from both the [[United States Congress]] and many mainstream black organizations including the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]] (NAACP).<ref name="Duberman Preface" /><ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 400.</ref>To this day, Paul Robeson's FBI file is one of the largest of any entertainer ever investigated by the [[United States Intelligence Community]], requiring its own internal index and unique status of health file.<ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 563, notes on sources</ref> Despite being blacklisted and limited activity in his later years, Paul Robeson remained, throughout his life, committed to Communism and anti-colonialism and was unapologetic about his political views including his support of Joesph Stalin.<ref>Brown, Lloyd. ''The Young Paul Robeson 1997.pg 161</ref>

 

Robeson was a hero to the far left and while not formally a member of the Communist Party, it relied upon him for support in their relentless efforts to appeal to black Americans.  His efforts to turn blacks against America failed, and the civil rights movement kept its distance from this provocateur who threatened to disgrace and distort their movement on behalf of civil rights and American values. And in 2004, after nearly a decade of intense lobbying and petitioning of the United States Postal Services' citizens stamp advisory board by Communists, Paul Robeson was finally featured on a US postage stamp. The Paul Robeson Commemorative Postage Stamp is the 27th stamp in the Black Heritage Series.

==Career pre-Cold War==

==Career pre-Cold War==

After graduating with top academic and athletic honors from Rutgers University in 1919, Robeson graduated from Columbia Law school. Racism at the time limited his options in the field of law so he drifted into entertainment.

After graduating with top academic and athletic honors from Rutgers University in 1919, Robeson attended and graduated from Columbia Law school. Racism at the time limited his options in the field of law so he drifted into entertainment.

In the 1920s, Robeson found fame as an actor and singing star of both stage and radio with his bass voice and commanding presence. He was one of the few true basses in American music, with his beautiful and powerful voice descending as low as C below the bass clef. In addition to his stage performances, his renditions of old Negro [[spirituals]] were acclaimed for there beauty in singing and Christian lyricism. Robeson and his accompanist and arranger Lawrence Brown were the first to bring them to the concert stage. Paul Robeson recorded over a hundred songs. He also demanded that many of his films defy stereotypes of blacks, making him first black actor to attempt to play roles which had dignity and stressed African pride.

In the 1920s, Robeson found fame as an actor and singing star of both stage and radio with his Bass voice and commanding presence. He was one of the few true basses in American music, with his beautiful and powerful voice descending as low as C below the bass clef. In addition to his stage performances, his renditions of old negro [[spirituals]] were acclaimed for there beauty in singing and Christian lyricism. Robeson and his accompanist and arranger Lawrence Brown were the first to bring them to the concert stage. Paul Robeson recorded over a hundred songs. He also demanded that many of his films defy stereotypes of blacks, making him first black actor to attempt to play roles which had dignity and stressed African pride.

His first roles were in 1922 playing Simon in ''Simon the Cyrenian'' at the Harlem YMCA and Jim in ''Taboo'' at the Sam Harris Theater in Harlem. ''Taboo'' was later re-named ''Vodoo''<!--"Voodoo"?-->. He was acclaimed for his 1924 performance in the title role of Eugene O'Neill's ''The Emperor Jones'' in 1920.

His first roles were in 1922 playing Simon in ''Simon the Cyrenian'' at the Harlem YMCA and Jim in ''Taboo'' at the Sam Harris Theater in Harlem. ''Taboo'' was later re-named ''Vodoo''<!--"Voodoo"?-->. He was acclaimed for his 1924 performance in the title role of Eugene O'Neill's ''The Emperor Jones'' in 1920.

===Ballad for Americans===

===Ballad for Americans===

After a return from Europe during the interwar period, he performed ''Patriotic [[cantata]]'' with lyrics by John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled, The Ballad for [[Uncle Sam]], it was written for a [[Works Progress Administration]] theatre project called Sing for Your Supper.<ref>Online notes from 2005 [http://www.lafayette.edu/webdata/robeson/audio.html Paul Robeson Conference] at Lafayette College. Accessed 31 January 2006.</ref>

After a return from Europe during the [[Communazi]] period, he performed ''Patriotic [[cantata]]'' with lyrics by John La Touche and music by Earl Robinson. Originally titled, The Ballad for [[Uncle Sam]], it was written for a [[Works Progress Administration]] theatre project called Sing for Your Supper.<ref>Online notes from 2005 [http://www.lafayette.edu/webdata/robeson/audio.html Paul Robeson Conference] at Lafayette College. Accessed 31 January 2006.</ref>

Robeson performed "Ballad" on the [[CBS]] radio network in 1943, accompanied by chorus and orchestra. [[Bing Crosby]] would also record a commercially successful recording of the piece but the song is almost always associated with Robeson as it represents the pinnacle of his music and radio career prior to the [[Cold War]]<ref name=Duberman241>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 241. </ref>He would perform it at [[The Hollywood Bowl]] to the largest sold-out crowd in its history.<ref name=Duberman241 />

Robeson performed "Ballad" on the [[CBS]] radio network in 1943, accompanied by chorus and orchestra. [[Bing Crosby]] would also record a commercially successful recording of the piece but the song is almost always associated with Robeson as it represents the pinnacle of his music and radio career prior to the [[Cold War]]<ref name=Duberman241>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 241. </ref>He would perform it at [[The Hollywood Bowl]] to the largest sold-out crowd in its history.<ref name=Duberman241 />

==Rumors of Communist party membership==

===Communist Party membership ===

In 1946, Robeson was questioned by the Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California, informally known as the Tenney Committee. When he was asked whether he was a member of the Communist Party, Robeson replied that he might as well have been asked whether he was a registered Democrat or Republican—in the United States the Communist Party was equally legal. But, he added under oath, he was not a Communist.<ref name=Duberman241>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 307. </ref><ref>Duberman, pp. 307&ndash;308</ref> There is no clear evidence that Robeson ever was a member of the Communist Party. According to records released under the [[Freedom of Information]] Act, the FBI believed that Robeson might have joined the Party under the name "John Thomas" but "his Communist Party membership book number is not known." Robeson's biographer, Martin Duberman, concludes that "he was never a member of CPUSA, never a functionary, never a participant in its daily bureaucratic operations."<ref name=dubermanpages/> Paul Robeson, Jr. has also stated on numerous times that his father was never a member of the CPUSA. Had Robeson actually been a Communist party member he would have been jailed under The Smith Act, as the surveillance on his life was virtullay nonstop during most of his adult life.

Robeson's political statements and activism, including sympathies expressed towards the Soviet Union, [[Lenin]], [[Mao Zedong]], [[Josip Broz Tito]] and [[Joseph Stalin]] were the subject of great controversy in the mass media, in particular rumors of membership in the [[Communist Party USA|American Communist Party]].  

 

Robeson is often criticized for accepting the [[Stalin Peace Prize]], eulogizing Stalin, and continuing to support the Soviet Union and not formally denouncing the regime, despite conflicting accounts that show his awareness of state-sponsored intimidation and murder.<ref name=Duberman354>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pgs 354''</ref> In his testimony to HUAC, he stated that,

 

"I have told you, mister, that I would not discuss anything with the people who have murdered sixty million of my people, and I will not discuss Stalin with you."  And "I will discuss Stalin when I may be among the Russian people some day, singing for them, I will discuss it there. It is their problem." Asked if he had praised Stalin during his previous trip to the Soviet Union, Robeson replied, "I do not know." When asked outright if he had changed his mind about Stalin he implored,

 

"Whatever has happened to Stalin, gentlemen, is a question for the Soviet Union, and I would not argue with a representative of the people who, in building America, wasted sixty to a hundred million lives of my people, black people drawn from Africa on the plantations. You are responsible, and your forebears, for sixty million to one hundred million black people dying in the slave ships and on the plantations, and don’t ask me about anybody, please."<ref>http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6440/''"You Are the Un-Americans, and You Ought to be Ashamed of Yourselves": Paul Robeson Appears Before HUAC''retrieved March 2nd 2009"</ref>

 

When Robeson was given the news of Stalin's 1939 non aggression pact with Hitler, also known as the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], he saw the agreement as having been forced on Russia by the unwillingness of the French and British forces "to collaborate with the Soviet Union in a real policy of collective security"-personally writing in his journal that an Anglo-Russian pact "would have stopped Nazi aggression"-thus leaving the USSR with no alternative choices in shoring up its borders.<ref name=Duberman232>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pg 232.</ref>

According to records released under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], the [[FBI]] believed that Robeson might have joined the Party under the name "John Thomas" but "his Communist Party membership book number is not known." Robeson's biographer, Martin Duberman, denies that "he was never a member of CPUSA, never a functionary, never a participant in its daily bureaucratic operations."<ref name=dubermanpages/> Paul Robeson, Jr. has also stated on numerous times that his father was never a member of the CPUSA.  But Robeson had been identified as a member of the CPUSA by Manning Johnson, a CPUSA member, in testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1949. Johnson revealed that:

According to records released under the [[Freedom of Information Act]], the [[FBI]] believed that Robeson might have joined the Party under the name "John Thomas" but "his Communist Party membership book number is not known." Robeson's biographer, Martin Duberman, denies that "he was never a member of CPUSA, never a functionary, never a participant in its daily bureaucratic operations."<ref name=dubermanpages/> Paul Robeson, Jr. has also stated on numerous times that his father was never a member of the CPUSA.  But Robeson had been identified as a member of the CPUSA by Manning Johnson, a CPUSA member, in testimony to the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1949. Johnson revealed that:

At no time during his retirement (or his life) is Paul Robeson on record of mentioning any unhappiness or regrets about his beliefs in socialism or his unwavering devotion for the Soviet Union nor did he ever express any disappointment in its leaders including [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]. Moreover, only a few sources out of thousands interviewed and researched by two of his biographers Martin Duberman and Lloyd Brown agreed with the claims made in the mainstream media of Robeson's supposed embitterment over the USSR.<ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, chapters "Broken Health" and "Attempted Renewal".</ref>

At no time during his retirement (or his life) is Paul Robeson on record of mentioning any unhappiness or regrets about his beliefs in socialism or his unwavering devotion for the Soviet Union nor did he ever express any disappointment in its leaders including [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]. Moreover, only a few sources out of thousands interviewed and researched by two of his biographers Martin Duberman and Lloyd Brown agreed with the claims made in the mainstream media of Robeson's supposed embitterment over the USSR.<ref>Duberman, Martin. ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, chapters "Broken Health" and "Attempted Renewal".</ref>

 

===Modern opinions on Robeson and the Soviet Union===

 

Many anti-communist scholars and journalists cite Robeson's friendship with the peoples of USSR and his deep admiration of [[Russian culture]] and refer to him a [[Stalinist]] which effectively negates his other achievements and political affiliations including his lifetime connections and friendships with American and [[European Jews]]<ref>Faingold, Noma. "Paul Robeson: forgotten hero of Jews, African-Americans" ''Jewish News Weekly'', July 1998</ref><ref>Karp, Jonathan. "Performing Black-Jewish Symbiosis: The "Hassidic Chant" of Paul Robeson", ''American Jewish History'', Volume 91, Number 1, March 2003, pp. 53-81</ref> Movie reviewer, [[Richard Corliss]] wrote in 1998 that Robeson "... was also a stubborn apologist for communism, Stalin-style." and that he "... could sell sand to Saharans, but he couldn't peddle Stalin to America.... If Robeson rejected a homegrown system of oppression to embrace another, more toxic one, that was his right."

==Modern opinions on Robeson and the Soviet Union==

Many right wing scholars and journalists use Robeson's friendship with the peoples of USSR and his deep admiration of [[Russian culture]] as a means to incorrectly label him a [[Stalinist]] and effectively negate his other achievements and political affiliations including his lifetime connections and friendships with American and [[European Jews]]<ref>Faingold, Noma. "Paul Robeson: forgotten hero of Jews, African-Americans" ''Jewish News Weekly'', July 1998</ref><ref>Karp, Jonathan. "Performing Black-Jewish Symbiosis: The "Hassidic Chant" of Paul Robeson", ''American Jewish History'', Volume 91, Number 1, March 2003, pp. 53-81</ref> Movie reviewer, [[Richard Corliss]] wrote in 1998 that Robeson "...&nbsp;was also a stubborn apologist for communism, Stalin-style." and that he "...&nbsp;could sell sand to Saharans, but he couldn't peddle Stalin to America.... If Robeson rejected a homegrown system of oppression to embrace another, more toxic one, that was his right."

 

 

 

==Quotes==

==Quotes==