 This is the basis, and I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist, I am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in this United States of America. As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.
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Four hundred million in India, and millions everywhere, have told you, precisely, that the colored people are not going to die for anybody: they are going to die for their independence.
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But the deep desire for peace remained with the American people.
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You know I am an actor, and I have medals for diction.
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I said it was my feeling that the American people would struggle for peace, and that has since been underscored by the President of these United States.
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I do not hesitate one second to state clearly and unmistakably: I belong to the American resistance movement which fights against American imperialism, just as the resistance movement fought against Hitler.
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For many years I have so labored and I can say modestly that my name is very much honored all over Africa, in my struggles for their independence.
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The Korean war has always been an unpopular war among the American people.
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Like any other people, like fathers, mothers, sons and daughters in every land, when the issue of peace or war has been put squarely to the American people, they have registered for peace.
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In Russia I felt for the first time like a full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice like in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being.
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We must join with the tens of millions all over the world who see in peace our most sacred responsibility.
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The other reason that I am here today, again from the State Department and from the court record of the court of appeals, is that when I am abroad I speak out against the injustices against the Negro people of this land.
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The telling of these truths is an important part of our work in building a strong and broad peace movement in the United States.
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My name is Paul Robeson, and anything I have to say, or stand for, I have said in public all over the world, and that is why I am here today.
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And today the Negro people watch Africa and Asia and closely follow the liberation struggles of the rising peoples in these lands.
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My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington`s troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave.
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Through the years I have received my share of recognition for efforts in the fields of sports, the arts, the struggle for full citizenship for the Negro people, labor`s rights and the fight for peace.
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In fact, because of this deep desire for peace, the ruling class leaders of this land, from 1945 on, stepped up the hysteria and propaganda to drive into American minds the false notion that danger threatened them from the East.
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What do you mean by the Communist Party? As far as I know it is a legal party like the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
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You want to shut up every Negro who has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people, for the rights of workers, and I have been on many a picket line for the steelworkers too.
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And at home in the United States we found continued and increased persecution, first of leaders of the Communist Party, and then of all honest anti-fascists.
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Yes, peace can and must be won, to save the world from the terrible destruction of World War III.
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And, gentlemen, they have not yet done so, and it is quite clear that no Americans, no people in the world probably, are going to war with the Soviet Union.
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I did a long concert tour in England and Denmark and Sweden, and I also sang for the Soviet people, one of the finest musical audiences in the world.
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Why should the Negroes ever fight against the only nations of the world where racial discrimination is prohibited, and where the people can live freely? Never! I can assure you, they will never fight against either the Soviet Union or the peoples` democracies.
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Could I say that the reason that I am here today, you know, from the mouth of the State Department itself, is: I should not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa.
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I know that if the peace movement takes its message boldly to the Negro people a powerful force can be secured in pursuit of the greatest goal of all mankind. And the same is true of labor and the great democratic sections of our population.
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This United States Government should go down to Mississippi and protect my people. That is what should happen.
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As Americans, preserving the best of our traditions, we have the right- nay the duty-to fight for participation in the forward march of humanity.
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At every step the vast majority have expressed horror at the idea of an aggressive war.
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At one point American peace sentiment helped to stop Truman from pursuing use of the atom bomb in Korea and helped force the recall of MacArthur.
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Once we are joined together in the fight for peace we will have to talk to each other and tell the truth about each other. How else can peace be won?
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"I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of fear. My weapons are peaceful, for it is only by peace that peace can be attained. The song of freedom must prevail."
OTHER
Trivia
Portrayed by James Earl Jones in a 1976 theatre production about his life. Jones sang in the production, despite the fact that he does not possess a real "singer`s voice". This one-man show was eventually telecast on PBS.
Appeared in a World War II-era U.S. Government War Department propaganda film aimed at combating the spread of venereal diseases among black soldiers. The film was called "Easy to Get" (serial number T.F.8 1423), and Robeson appears at the end in his capacity as a celebrity football star and singer to advise viewers to stay "clean.".
Portrayed by Avery Brooks in a 1982 revival of the 1976 theater production about his life.
In December 1937 he sang a whole night for Spanish Republican troops fighting to take the town of Teruel.
He was awarded the 1953 Stalin Peace Prize by the Soviet government. He was the last one to receive it before it was renamed the Lenin Peace Prize a few years later.
Robeson made only one stereo recording, a two volume set of his historic 1958 Carnegie Hall recital - his only appearance there. Unfortunately, the albums made from this occasion turned out to be his last. The Carnegie Hall concert has since been issued on CD, and shows him in remarkably good voice for a sixty year old singer.
The subject of the World/Inferno Friendship Society song, "Paul Robeson". Contains the rousing chorus "Speak Up/Black Out/Black Listed/Full bodied - red".
Was the subject of the song "Paul Robeson (Born To Be Free)" by the Celtic rock group, Black 47.
Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Although he changed the lyrics of "Ol` Man River" in 1938 to reflect his own personal and political views, and although the recordings he made of the song after 1938 use those altered lyrics, Robeson always sang the song as originally written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II in the stage productions of "Show Boat" in which he appeared, as well as in the 1936 film version (with the exception of the word `niggers", which, in the film, was changed to "darkies").
In its time, the Robeson "Othello" could not have been filmed because of the racial climate of the era - a black man could not play a love scene with a white woman in a motion picture in the 1940s. In addition, Robeson was blacklisted for his political beliefs in 1950, and as a result, was not able to make any films in the U.S., or have any of his films shown in the U.S. at that time.
The 1943 Broadway production of "Othello", in which Robeson starred is, to this day, the longest-running non-musical production of a Shakespeare play ever to be staged in the United States, due almost entirely to Robeson`s enormous popularity at the time. "Kiss Me Kate", inspired by "The Taming of the Shrew", "West Side Story", inspired by "Romeo and Juliet", and the musical version of "Two Gentlemen of Verona", based on Shakespeare`s comedy of the same name, all ran longer, but the 1943 "Othello",a "straight" production of the play, ran for nine months at the same theatre, and then went on a highly successful U.S. tour.
Pictured on a 37¢ USA commemorative postage stamp in the Black Heritage series, issued 20 January 2004.
Subject of 2001 Manic Street Preachers single `Let Robeson Sing` (from the album Know Your Enemy)
Has a black tomato variety named after him, allegedly named so by its Russian growers because he was extremely well liked in that country. (source: tomatofest.com)
In stage productions he acted William Shakespeare`s "Othello" as it was written, but when he performed Othello`s final speech at his concert recitals, he changed the famous phrase "one that lov`d not wisely, but too well" to "one that lov`d full wisely, but too well".
Was able to speak and write in over 20 languages.
According to the biography written by his son, Paul Robeson Jr., he had a long-term extramarital relationship with Fredi Washington. They appeared in one film together, The Emperor Jones (1933).
In 1942, said he wouldn`t make any more films until there were better roles for blacks.
Robeson was the first black person to play football for Rutgers University.
Robeson was only the third black person to attend Rutgers University, the state university of New Jersey.
Robeson was twice Named All-American Football Player for Rutgers at End, in 1917 and 1918.
Inducted into the National College Football Hall of Fame.
Inducted into the Rutgers Football Hall of Fame.
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Rutgers in 1919.
Played football professionally for three years in the APFL (American Professional Football League) 1920-1922.
Elected Valedictorian of his senior class at Rutgers, 1919.
The role of Joe, the deckhand, in Jerome Kern`s and Oscar Hammerstein II`s "Show Boat" was written for him, but because of schedule conflicts and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.`s delay in putting on the show, he was unable to star in the first stage production and played the role in London five months later. He sang "Ol` Man River" in the show, and made the second ever recording of the song ever in 1928 (Bing Crosby did the first), the same year he starred in the show. He became so identified with it that he starred in three more productions of "Show Boat": the 1932 New York revival, the 1936 film version and a 1940 Los Angeles stage production. Although he continued singing "Ol` Man River" in every one of his solo recitals, and made at least two more recordings of the song, he began changing the lyrics after 1938 to reflect his more racially conscious views.
In 1952 and 1953 he sang in defiance of the U.S. government in what is now called "The Peace Arch Concerts." These concerts, attended by over 40,000 people, are now available on CD and feature Robeson`s only political speeches on record along with his signature song, "Old Man River."
Was the first black actor ever to play Othello in Shakespeare`s play (onstage) with a white cast. He appeared in three separate productions: London 1930, the record-setting 1943 U.S.production, and a 1959 London production - his last appearance on any stage.
In 1925, he sang the first concert recital consisting solely of black spirituals, at the Greenwich Village Theatre in New York.
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