To be fre e .. .that dream which we have held so long in our hearts
is today the destiny that we hold in our hands.
Raising funds for the Republican defenders Robeson said: " T h e artist
must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery. I have made my choice. I had
no alternative. The history o f this era is characterized by the degradation of
my people— dispoiled o f their lands, their culture destroyed, denied equal
protection of the law, and deprived o f their rightful place in respect to their
fellows.
" N o t through blind faith or coercion, but conscious o f my course, 1 take
my place w ith you in u n a lte ra b le support o f the la w fu l governm ent o f
Spain, duly and regularly chosen by its sons and daughters."
He went to Spain in 1938, and it was a turning point in his life. "There I
saw that it was the working men and women o f Spain who were heroically
giving 'their last full measure o f devotion* to the cause o f democracy in that
bloody co n flic t, and that it was the upper class— the landed gentry, the
bankers and industrialists— who had unlcased the facist beast on their own
people.”
There he sang for the workers who had come from other countries. ‘ M y
heart was filled with adm iration and love for these white Americans, and
there was a sense o f great pride in my own people when I saw there were Ne
groes, too, in the ranks o f the Lincoln men in Spain."
Returning to London he worked with the Labor Parly and learned about
the hardships o f the workers in the cotton m ills o f Manchester and the
mines o f Wales. “ The Welsh miners, and other workers I met throughout
England and Scotland, made it clear that there was a closer bond between us
than the general struggle to preserve democracy from its facist foes. At the
heart o f that conflict, they pointed out, was a class division, and although I
was famous and wealthy, the fact was I came from a working-class people
like themselves and th erefore, they said, my place was w ith them in the
ranks o f Lab or.”
Workers' concert on Oakland dock, 1942
to fourteen m illion o f my people; because with all the energy at my com
mand, I fight for the right o f the Negro people and other oppressed labor-
driven Americans to have decent homes, decent jobs, and the dignity that
belongs to every human being!"
Return to the United States
Official Harassment
In the years before W orld W ar II Robeson toured western Europe, his
concerts becoming massive rallies agains Nazism. In 1939, he, his wife, and
their son Paul, returned to the United States.
"H a vin g helped on many fronts, I feel that it is now time for me to return
to the place o f my origin— to those roots which, though embedded in Negro
life, are essentially Am erican and are so regarded by the people o f most
other countries.”
Soon after he returned he sang " B a lla d fo r A m e ric a n s "— an eleven-
minute ballad— on CBS. An immediate hit, a recording sold 30,000 copies
in the first year. During the war years Robeson perform ed to enormous
crowds throughout the nation, lent his talents to the war effo rt, and was the
first major artist to perform in prisons. He joined D r. W .E .B . DuBois as
co-chairman o f the Council on African A ffa irs— dedicated to African liber
ation.
From 1942 to 1945 he played "O th e llo ” in the U.S. and set a record run
on Broadway.
"Shakespeare's play has a deep social meaning today,” he said. “ Shake
speare saw his era in human terms, an era o f change from feudal to higher
forms o f social relationships. In Othello, he anticipated the rape of Africa
and some of the subsequent social problems.”
Robeson’ s O th e llo was seen by m ore than h a lf a m illio n people; he
reached the peak o f his profession and was hailed as a model for Am erica’s
youth.
Robeson refused to let his public acceptance as an artist make him forget
the suffering o f his people. “ I refuse to let my personal success, as part o f a
fraction o f one percent o f the Negro people, to explain away the injustices
Following the end o f W orld W ar II the social and political atmosphere
began to change. The philosophy o f the New Deal became the philosophy
and the reality o f the cold war.
Black soldiers returning fro m the war found a wave o f lynchings and
beatings sweeping the nation.
Paul Robeson was at the peak o f his career— he was warm ly welcomed
and acclaimed during concert tours throughout the N o rth — he never would
appear where audiences were segregated.
In the fall o f 1946, Robeson met with President H arry Truman to ask his
help in curbing lynching. It was a stormy session with Robeson saying that
if the President didn't do something "Negroes w o u ld ." Trum an interpreted
this as a threat. When Robeson left the meeting he was barraged by a hostile
Civil Rights Congress pickets W hite House. 1948
" lig h t no one! Fight f o r peace, f o r jobs, good wages, and
shorter hours, f o r the right to vote in the South—f o r the
futures o f yo ur children. That is the road to real
emancipation at the dawning o f the second h a lf o f the 20th
century. ”
press asking, " A r e you a comm unist?" " I label myself violently anti-fas
cist," he answered.
A nother reporter asked i f he believed in turning the other check. " I f
someone hit me on one cheek I ’d tear his head o ff before he could hit me on
the other one,” he replied.
Less than a month later Robeson was subpoenaed by the California Legis
lative com m ittee on U n -A m erican Activities, the "T en ney C o m m itte e ."
Battered with questions about his political beliefs, Robeson said he was not
and had never been a member o f the Communist Party. He refused to agree
to the Committee's position that communism was a threat to the nation or
to discuss his associates.
W ith workers and union leaders. Poland. 1949
Carter Goodwin Woodson (1875-1950)
Bom in Canton, Virginia, educated at Berea Col
lege, Kentucky, he earned his B.A. in 1907 and his
M .A ., from the University of Chicago, in 1908.
After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1912, he
became a college professor and Dean of the
College of Liberal Arts at Howard University, in
1921. In 1910 he organized the Association for the
Study of Negro Life and History. He initiated the
Annual February observance of Negro History
Week in 1926, and wrote and published 16 o u t
standing books on Black History. He received the
Spingarn Medal in 1926.
I
FredMever
ÌNE STO P SHOPPING ECENTER!.
4 406
Portland Observer, February 23, 1983 Section II Page 9
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