That Paul Robeson is being honored with a stamp in the current era of repression and political paranoia is the height of historical irony. The catalogue of Robeson's achievements is incredible, but his demise, amid allegations of being a communist in the 1950s, is almost a metaphor for the experience of black heroes who have been enstamped by the US Postal Service. Robeson was born in 1898 to parents who were both former slaves. His mother died in a fire when he was six years old. His father served as minister at a number of churches in New Jersey (being pushed out of at least one post due to racial factors) and settled in as the pastor of St. Luke A.M.E.-Zion church in Westfield. Paul Robeson entered Rutgers College in 1915 as only the third black student to be accepted by the school. He went on to earn 15 letters in sports during his time there, joined in the debate team and graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1919. He went on to Columbia University Law School, graduated in 1922 and practiced law briefly before becoming disillusioned with the racism practiced by New York law firms. He decided to embark upon a career as an actor and vocalist.
After landing theatrical roles in Shuffle Along, Black Boy and The Emperor Jones, he appeared in a 1930 production of Shakespeare's Othello, eventually being recognized as the definitive enactor of the tragic Moor. Robeson had graduated to film in 1924 and starred in Oscar Micheaux's Body and Soul, but abandoned the genre because of the limited roles available to black actors. He traveled extensively, visiting Africa in the 1930s and becoming friends with a number of African students, including the Kenyan Jomo Kenyatta, who were actively fighting against European colonialism. He would eventually learn to speak over a half-dozen languages. Radicalized by his exposure to African struggles, Robeson began to articulate an increasingly critical perspective about racism and American politics. By the beginning of World War II, he was widely acclaimed as a vocalist, actor, athlete and intellectual. Paul Robeson was possibly the best known American artist in the world.
By 1949, however, the Cold War had begun to heat up and the lines between dissent and treason were deliberately blurred. Robeson's comments at a 1949 peace conference were deliberately misinterpreted to say that African Americans would never fight in a war against the Soviet Union. The denunciations came with fury and swiftness: Walter White, Jackie Robinson and Mary McLeod Bethune lined up to distance themselves from him. He was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1950, where he refused to state whether or not he was a member of the Communist Party. Robeson, though he had a number of friends who were Communists and had himself visited the Soviet Union more than once, had never been a member of the Communist Party. His issue with the McCarthy inquisition was a moral one: he objected to any form of political expression being criminalized and saw McCarthy as a greater threat to the Constitution than Communism was. Asked by a committee member why he didn't simply move permanently to the Soviet Union, Robeson famously replied: "Because my father was a slave and my people died to build this country and no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?"
There would be consequences for this kind of democratic audacity. Robeson was refused permission to perform in venues across the country and his passport was revoked, making it impossible for him to tour abroad. His alma mater, Rutgers University, omitted his name from its list of football greats and all but dismissed his significance as an alumnus of the institution. A planned concert in Peekskill, New York, devolved into a riot when local residents began throwing bricks through the car windows of Robeson's entourage. Within a decade, the most famous black person in the world had quite simply disappeared.
Robeson could have ended his internal exile by simply stating that he was not a Communist, but to do so ran counter to his deep belief in intellectual freedom. He fell into financial ruin. The accumulated strains — along with his discovery of the horrors of Stalin's tyranny in the USSR — took their toll; he suffered a series of nervous breakdowns. The Supreme Court ruled in 1958 that it was illegal to deny a passport to a citizen on the basis of political beliefs and Robeson was allowed to travel abroad later that year. He performed internationally, but never came close to his former prominence. He died in 1976, a legend who had been quietly forgotten.
With a sitting President who tells the world, "you are either with us or against us," endorses secret military tribunals, and condones eavesdropping on confidential discussions between a person and his or her attorney, it's almost impossible to ask whether the Robeson stamp is tribute or hypocrisy. These days, presidents visit Martin Luther King's tomb — before appointing former segregationists to the federal bench. And a defamed icon is given accolades a half-century after his life was ruined by an overzealous government that had declared Communism its primary threat and told him that he was either with us or against us. With history as an alibi, you can't expect anyone to plead guilty.
Posted by P6 at February 24, 2004 09:33 AM
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Comments
...it's almost impossible to ask whether the Robeson stamp is tribute or hypocrisy.
I think what it means is that there are many voices in the US government, including those of good, decent men and women.
You'd be more annoyed if I'd quoted the first half.
It bothers me that Black heroes aren't accepted by the mainstream until their memories are so diluted theybear no resemblance to the human that actually lived here.
Posted by P6 at February 24, 2004 05:21 PMAmen to that, P6! Look at what has been done to MLK. The more radicalized King never sees the light of day.
Posted by Kamau at February 25, 2004 08:05 PMTrue, Kamau. You remember the post yo linked to on the anniversay of the March of Washington. "Dr. Dream, or The Mythical Negro."
You know what, though? If Martin and Malcolm are to be our Ascended Heroes, we need to be teaching about them. I really don't expect white folks to have the same grip on their teachings as we do. Things would be radically different if they did, and I can alternate between annoyed, disappointed and resigned about the fact, not to mention plesantly surprised when I meet the individual exceptions.
But we (and his ain't the royal we, this is you, me and folks we know like us) have to teach what we've learned needs be taught. We need to teach teachers.
Posted by P6 at February 25, 2004 09:52 PMThanks for pointing folks to Jelani Cobb's work on Africana. I love reading his "Past Imperfect" column. He has a website, Creative Ink (http://www.jelanicobb.com) that has a nice portfolio of articles and reviews as well.
Also, I never did thank you for drawing attention the work of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History Last Month. Good stuff.
Posted by Kim Pearson at February 25, 2004 10:00 PM