#GoinHome #PaulRobeson #TheSnakePit #OliviaDeHavilland
The most moving performance of this song is from The Snake Pit, starring DeHavilland, sung by Jan Clayton in the film.
100% cry every time, for both versions. If you never saw The Snake Pit it's worth a watch.
This version is Robeson. I'll link the movie version below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9smSP1dq-A&list=RDM9smSP1dq-A&start_radio=1
Been reading Quick Service. One of the characters likes to sing Trees, which I looked up because I’d never heard of it. But another character likes to sing Old Man River, so I put that on too. Found this great version from an old movie (Showboat 1936.) I may have to watch it.
#GeraldHorne on the life and death of #PaulRobeson who filed a #genocide charge at the #UN against the #US over their treatment of #Black and #Colored people in #slavery.
Paul Robeson. bass-baritone concert artist, actor, lawyer, professional football player & activist- an all around once in a lifetime talent. Here he is with the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” (https://youtu.be/ryM5a3ShRJU?si=tE6Uw1kHZsdzgJ1q)Seek medical attention if you aren’t moved
#RetroView #BlackHistoryMonth #PaulRobeson
"My father was a slave and my people died to build this country, and I'm going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you. And no fascist-minded people like you will drive me from it. Is that clear?"
— Paul Robeson, actor, writer, singer, lawyer, activist
This quote comes from his testimony when ordered in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 1956. I highly suggest reading his whole testimony.
Paul Robeson and his wife Eslanda visit with students at the medical school at the University of Dublin. The image includes (back: row third from left) Dr. Noel Holmes who became the Chief Medical Examiner of Jamaica and Dr. Errol Thompson (back row, fifth from left). Dr. Thompson went on to become an Ear, Nose, and Throat surgeon in New York and founded the Speech and Hearing Center at Harlem Hospital. The image was contributed by Karen Greene, the daughter of Dr. Errol Thomas.
He particularly admired Irish literature and music and was an avid reader of WB Yeats.
Paul Robeson signing Joe Hill to Scottish miners in 1949:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0bezsMVU7c
#PaulRobeson #SpanishCivilWar #Ireland #WBYeats
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... and it continued with his support for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War and his involvement in the Council on African Affairs.
He fell foul of senator Joe McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee and had his passport and concerts cancelled. Before then he visited Ireland at least three times and performed in Dublin, Limerick, and Cork in the 1930s.
#PaulRobeson #SpanishCivilWar #Ireland #WBYeats
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Paul Robeson died on 23 January 1976. He was an American concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political stances.
Robeson's political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students in Britain...
#PaulRobeson #SpanishCivilWar #Ireland #WBYeats
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"My father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I'm going to stay right here and have a part of it, just like you. And no fascist minded people like you will drive me from it. Is that clear?" — #PaulRobeson #BlackHistory
Today in Labor History January 19, 1915: The authorities arrested IWW bard and organizer Joe Hill in Salt Lake City and later convicted him on trumped up murder charges. They executed him 21 months later despite worldwide protests and two attempts to intervene by President Woodrow Wilson. In a letter to Bill Haywood shortly before his death he penned the famous words, "Don't mourn - organize!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0bezsMVU7c
Today in Labor History January 19, 1920: Crystal Eastman, Roger Nash Baldwin, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (from the IWW) and others founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Their original focus was freedom of speech, primarily anti-war speech, and supporting conscientious objectors. In 1923, they defended author Upton Sinclair after he was arrested for trying to read the First Amendment during an IWW rally. In 1925, they persuaded John T. Scopes to defy Tennessee's anti-evolution law in The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. Clarence Darrow, an ACLU member, headed Scopes' legal team. The ACLU lost the case and Scopes was fined $100. In 1926, they defended H. L. Mencken, who deliberately broke Boston law by distributing copies of his banned American Mercury magazine and won their first major acquittal. However, they kicked Elizabeth Gurley Flynn off their board in 1940 because of her Communist affiliations. And they refused defend Paul Robeson and other leftists in the 1950s.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #elizabethgurleyflynn #communism #aclu #evolution #uptonsinclair #PaulRobeson #clarencedarrow #hlmencken #freespeech #antiwar #education #school #freeppress #journalism #firstamendment @bookstadon
Here is an extraordinary singer, Paul Robeson, who was more actively persecuted than Ochs for his political beliefs singing about Joe Hill who was fitted up and killed by the state for singing and organizing
This year, it is impossible not to approach the High Holy Days with a heavy heart, and even with anger. I am still thinking of “A din toire mit Gott.” Here is Paul Robeson singing his powerfully cathartic English version.
“Here I am before Thee with a grave and earnest plea for this my people…
An end let there be to all this sorrow and suffering”
Today in Labor History September 4, 1949: The Peekskill riots at a Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill, New York. A mob of locals attacked concert-goers with baseball bats and rocks. Police arrived hours later and did little to intervene. Thirteen people were seriously injured, Robeson was lynched in effigy and a cross was burned on the hillside. Robeson was well known for his strong pro-trade union stance, civil rights activism, communist affiliations and anti-colonialism. He also had been increasingly vocal against the Ku Klux Klan and other forces of white supremacy. The concert was a benefit for the Civil Rights Congress. Just prior to the riots, Robeson had spoken at Soviet-sponsored World Peace Conference in Paris, where he said the following:
“We in America do not forget that it was on the backs of white workers from Europe and on the backs of millions of blacks that the wealth of America was built. And we are resolved to share it equally. We reject any hysterical raving that urges us to make war on anyone. Our will to fight for peace is strong.... We shall support peace and friendship among all nations, with Soviet Russia and the People's Republics.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=w3OjHIhLCDs
My new favorite version of "Go Down Moses," made all the more powerful by knowing Paul Robeson's story.
If you don't know his story, you need to. And then listen to this song.
"This is a serious job - winning this war against fascists. We have to be together." - Paul Robeson.
#PaulRobeson #originalantifa
Paul Robeson and his wife & manager of 22 years, Eslanda “Essie” Goode Robeson (also pictured is their son, Paul Jr.)
#SilentFlickerSunday #Borderline1930 #PaulRobeson #EslandaRobeson #BlackHistoryMonth
Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone, actor, professional football player, and activist. Also, he was a lawyer.. just the total definition of a Renaissance Man.
#RetroView #PaulRobeson #BlackHistoryMonth
Today in Labor History January 19, 1920: Crystal Eastman, Roger Nash Baldwin, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn (from the IWW) and others founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Their original focus was freedom of speech, primarily anti-war speech, and supporting conscientious objectors. In 1923, they defended author Upton Sinclair after he was arrested for trying to read the First Amendment during an IWW rally. In 1925, they persuaded John T. Scopes to defy Tennessee's anti-evolution law in The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes. Clarence Darrow, an ACLU member, headed Scopes' legal team. The ACLU lost the case and Scopes was fined $100. In 1926, they defended H. L. Mencken, who deliberately broke Boston law by distributing copies of his banned American Mercury magazine and won their first major acquittal. However, they kicked Elizabeth Gurley Flynn off their board in 1940 because of her Communist affiliations. And they refused defend Paul Robeson and other leftists in the 1950s.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #IWW #union #ElizabethGurleyFlynn #communism #aclu #evolution #uptonsinclair #PaulRobeson #clarencedarrow #hlmencken #FreeSpeech #antiwar #education #school #FreePress #journalism #FirstAmendment @bookstadon
