A Lasting Tribute

Politically outspoken musicians are always a cause for
controversy. But if there was ever one American musician to
represent the American ideal of achievement in the face of hardship
and public condemnation, it would have been human rights activist
and opera singer Paul Robeson, one of America’s most
persecuted activists due to alleged ties to the Communist Party in
the 1940s and ’50s.

But Jamaican bass baritone Willard White who will perform a
tribute concert for Robeson this Thursday in Royce Hall prefers to
see Robeson not as a controversial political activist, but as a
fellow advocate and role model for equality.

“(Robeson) believed that there is a better way for our
lives and that we can actually live in a better way with one
another and not necessarily bow to the pressures of government, but
respect the government and speak out about what you believe
in,” White said.

Nonetheless, Robeson’s life was complicated. The son of an
ex-slave, he lost his mother in a fire when he was very young and
suffered from bouts of bipolar disorder.

At Rutgers University, Robeson displayed athletic prowess on the
football, baseball, basketball and track teams, became a two-time
All-American football player, and won 14 varsity letters.

Robeson was valedictorian of his class, a member of national
honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, and was fluent in 20 languages. In
1923, he received a law degree from Columbia Law School.

Afterward, Robeson pursued a career in music and theater and
starred as Shakespeare’s “Othello” in London and
on Broadway. Robeson eventually received universal acclaim for his
performance of “Ol’ Man River” in the musical,
“Showboat.” This performance later hit the silver
screen and Robeson became the first prominent black film star,
eventually garnering global fame.

“In the ’30s and ’40s, next to President
Roosevelt, he might have been the most widely recognized American
throughout the world,” African American studies lecturer,
Paul Von Blum said.

Part of his fame came not from the silver screen and stage, but
through his political involvement.

“Despite his very strong identity as an African American,
he actually had a much deeper vision of a non-racist
society,” Von Blum said. “He really believed that all
people were brothers and sisters under the skin.”

Robeson sought to promote anti-lynching and fair employment laws
and fought for the entrance of blacks into major league baseball in
the early 1940s.

But his work for promoting race equality soon led to suspicion
among authorities. In the middle of McCarthyism, Robeson became one
of America’s most blacklisted political activists because of
alleged ties to communism. Even Jackie Robinson criticized him in
testimony before a congressional committee in 1948. In 1950,
Robeson’s passport was revoked and he was unable to leave the
country for several years. Robeson also underwent surveillance by
the FBI and was denounced by the NAACP after having received the
Spingarn Medal, the organization’s highest honor for
achievement among blacks.

But it is Robeson’s message of peace, unity and
forgiveness ““ not politics and persecution ““ which both
White and accompanying pianist Neal Thornton hope to emphasize in
tonight’s performance.

“I can’t stress too strongly that the Paul Robeson
story that we’re putting over is not really a political story
as such,” Thornton said. “(The) human race is one soul
and that’s what the show is about.”

Many of the songs White will perform are American spirituals,
but the program also includes folk songs from England, Scotland,
Russia, and a Spanish Civil War song to emphasize Robeson’s
vision of universal brotherhood.

“Robeson realized his race was not the only downtrodden
one,” White said. “He believed in the championing of
any group of people that are downtrodden.”

The hardship Robeson faced has likely contributed to
White’s own take-nothing-for-granted view on life.

“I breathe when I go to sleep. That’s magic!”
White said. “My heart still beats and my digestion continues
and there’s a great diversity of organs and a fantastic
coordination of nervous system. I now look at my body as a complete
love in action.”

And it is likely that through Robeson’s example White has
learned that racial equality and happiness in general are
ultimately reached only after conquering challenges and
hardship.

“No one can make me happy,” White said. “Yes,
I can be influenced by others, but the experience and happiness is
up to the choice that I make to respond to whatever situation
I’m in.”Â 

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