Paul Robeson

Synopsis

Paul Robeson was one of the twentieth century's most notable performers, political radicals, and champions of racial equality. A brilliant scholar and athlete, he became world famous as a singer and actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Othello in the 1944 Broadway production and for his best selling recording of "OI' Man River". Robeson achieved notoriety through his political activities - a father of the civil rights movement, he campaigned for racial equality in America and was active internationally in struggles against Fascism. His commitment to socialism made him a prime target for the McCarthyite witchhunts of the 1950s and the FBI waged a campaign of vilification against him. Robeson was to spend his old age plagued by illness virtually in exile. Drawing on a vast archive of family papers, interviews with friends and relatives, as well as FBI files, Professor Duberman, charts the heroic and tragic course of Robeson's life: from his early days as the son of a former slave to his rise to unprecedented international acclaim as a stage actor and singer, from his political awakening to his downfall as a victim of McCarthyism and the efforts of the U.S. government to destroy him. He describes details from Robeson's often complex and unorthodox personal life, his stormy marriage and the inner turmoil of his enigmatic personality.