Tommy Tainant
Diamond Member
Its his birthday today. Happy birthday Paul. He has an almost mythical status here in Wales where he spent much time. He sang once in Wrexham and people were hanging from the chandeliers trying to get a view.
Is he still remembered in the US ?
Born this day 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey,
Paul Robeson (honorary Welshman). His mother was a Quaker abolitionist, and his father a former slave who had escaped to the north, gone to college, and become a minister. Robeson graduated from Rutgers University and became a lawyer, but due to the racism of that time, he had trouble finding employment, so he began the acting and singing career for which he is most remembered. He had a natural talent and an enormously deep voice; his version of 'Ol Man River' from the musical 'Showboat' is considered a classic.
Robeson was deeply political; he fought for racial justice in America, spoke out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews, and participated in the Spanish Civil war. However, his most controversial ideology was his support of communism and this brought him before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, who accused him of trying to set up a Soviet state in the American South and took away his passport.
Robeson’s fondness of South Wales began in 1928 when he met a delegation of unemployed miners who had walked to London to raise awareness of the hardship and suffering endured by their mining communities. Robeson visited South Wales many times, and in 1938 he sang at the Welsh International Brigade Memorial at Mountain Ash to honour the 33 Welshmen who had died during the Spanish Civil War. He told the audience, “I am here because I know that these fellows fought not only for me but for the whole world. I feel it is my duty to be here."
His links with South Wales continued when he starred in The Proud Valley in 1939, a film about life in a mining community in the Rhondda, where he told local miners, “You have shaped my life – I have learnt a lot from you. I am part of the working class. Of all the films I have made the one I will preserve is The Proud Valley.” Robeson’s health deteriorated during the 1960s and he died in 1976.
Is he still remembered in the US ?
Born this day 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey,
Paul Robeson (honorary Welshman). His mother was a Quaker abolitionist, and his father a former slave who had escaped to the north, gone to college, and become a minister. Robeson graduated from Rutgers University and became a lawyer, but due to the racism of that time, he had trouble finding employment, so he began the acting and singing career for which he is most remembered. He had a natural talent and an enormously deep voice; his version of 'Ol Man River' from the musical 'Showboat' is considered a classic.
Robeson was deeply political; he fought for racial justice in America, spoke out against the Nazi persecution of the Jews, and participated in the Spanish Civil war. However, his most controversial ideology was his support of communism and this brought him before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, who accused him of trying to set up a Soviet state in the American South and took away his passport.
Robeson’s fondness of South Wales began in 1928 when he met a delegation of unemployed miners who had walked to London to raise awareness of the hardship and suffering endured by their mining communities. Robeson visited South Wales many times, and in 1938 he sang at the Welsh International Brigade Memorial at Mountain Ash to honour the 33 Welshmen who had died during the Spanish Civil War. He told the audience, “I am here because I know that these fellows fought not only for me but for the whole world. I feel it is my duty to be here."
His links with South Wales continued when he starred in The Proud Valley in 1939, a film about life in a mining community in the Rhondda, where he told local miners, “You have shaped my life – I have learnt a lot from you. I am part of the working class. Of all the films I have made the one I will preserve is The Proud Valley.” Robeson’s health deteriorated during the 1960s and he died in 1976.
