Paul Robeson
One of the often quoted paradox of the pre-Civil Rights era was the willingness of white audiences to celebrate the brilliance of black musical and theatrical talent, while at the same time refusing them equal access to the clubs and theaters where they performed. During the Harlem Renaissance, white New Yorkers routine flocked to the black Jazz clubs of Harlem, but few black jazz artists were ever invited back.
There are numerous examples of this, from Billie Holliday to Louis Armstrong, but probably one of the most respected, and distinctive voices of post-WWII black theater was that of Paul Robeson.
Paul Robeson was a bass-baritone, a lawyer and an alumni of Rutgers University. He was acknowledged as a world-class athlete, playing both football and baseball. He is generally regarded as one of great artists of the Harlem Renaissance, but he began his career in law, and entered the theater only because extant racism in New York made it impossible for him to practice. In December 1924, he landed the lead role of ‘Jim’ in Eugene O’Neill’s production of ‘All God’s Chillun Got Wings’. This was the commencement of a celebrated stage career, with regular appearances on Broadway, and numerous overseas tours. He played Othello opposite Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona in 1930, and later took the role to Broadway, where it ran for over 300 performances.
By the outbreak of WWII, Robeson had developed an international following, but it was then too that his political activism began to compromise his popularity. He made several visits to the Soviet Union, which raised questions, in particular during the McCarthy era. Returning home from Europe, critics extolled him as an ‘artistic and social genius, gifted by the gods as musician and actor.’ However, he was also that most dangerous of creatures, a black communist, and he was soon blacklisted from domestic concert venues, theatres and recording studios, and his passport was withdrawn, making it impossible for him to perform abroad.
Robeson’s activism and political involvement was diverse, and his interests were not by any means centered solely on black emancipation. The Civil Rights Movement was also by no means a unified movement, and internal squabbles were common. Robeson was not universally acknowledged and accepted by the black civil rights leadership, and this was because he was too closely associated through his theatrical work with the white establishment. Nonetheless, from issues as diverse as the anti-fascist movement of the Spanish Civil War, anti-imperialism and improving working conditions for Welsh coal miners, he was a potent figure on the stage of black American politics and activism. In the early 1960s, he retired and lived the remaining years of his life privately in Philadelphia.