The Undiscovered Paul Robeson Quotes

“nearly 100 years have passed since the struggle to abolish Negro slavery was won—yet today the Negro people here are still fighting to win true freedom and equality. In hundreds of laws we are branded as inferior, set apart, humiliated.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“On July 7, Essie was subpoenaed to appear before the feared McCarthy Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations. Headed by Senator Joseph McCarthy, a right-wing Republican from Wisconsin, this so-called McCarthy Committee was spearheading the anticommunist witch hunt throughout the nation with its high-profile hearings.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“In October, an afternoon visit with Albert Einstein in Princeton at Einstein’s invitation provided Paul with a welcome change of pace. The two recalled their previous meetings—especially backstage in Princeton when Einstein had seen Paul in Othello. They talked at length about the right to travel, Paul’s fight for his artistic life, and scientists’ responsibility to speak out against the trampling of constitutional rights.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“The standard FBI questionnaire designed to ferret out communists or “communist sympathizers” included an inquiry as to whether the suspect had black friends. Black politicians and establishment leaders responded by keeping a low public profile”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“A few days after Paul was banned from Madison Square Garden, over six thousand people showed up at a Harlem rally for him. And though the leadership of the black establishment either failed to support Paul or joined in the attacks against him, a significant portion of black public opinion became even more sympathetic.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“Soon after Robinson’s testimony, HUAC ended the hearings without calling Paul, thus conceding defeat. By now a strong majority of the black masses, especially in the South, supported Paul. The left and progressive constituencies backed him solidly, including the entire Communist Party leadership.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“The president reddened, stood up, and shook his finger at Paul. “That sounds like a threat!” he said. Expressionless, Paul slowly rose from his chair, looking directly at the president. The two Secret Service guards on either side of the president’s desk unbuttoned their jackets and took a step forward. “I meant no offense to the Presidency,” Paul said evenly. “I was merely conveying the mood of the Negro people who constitute ten percent of the U.S. population.” Then he waited for the president to sit down. Truman sat down and abruptly terminated the meeting.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“By mid-September, after postponing the start of his concert tour until October 24, Paul was leading a crusade against lynching. When Walter White and most other leaders of the black establishment, such as A. Philip Randolph, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and Mary McCleod Bethune, refused to back such an initiative, Paul asked W. E. B. DuBois and Albert Einstein to join him in a national call for a mass protest meeting in Washington, D.C. They agreed,”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“On my upcoming sixteenth birthday, I would be eligible to get my driver’s license. “You’ll be a target of the state police, especially after dark,” my father said, and offered me detailed advice on what to do in order to minimize my risk. He also urged me to stay alert whenever I found myself in an unfamiliar white neighborhood: “Always be conscious of where you are, what is going on, and who is around you,” he counseled.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: Quest for Freedom, 1939 - 1976

“he had charged that the democratic countries of the world had “retreated at every step” before the onslaught of fascism, and that “the Colored people of the United States must ever keep in mind that the reactionary forces seeking to smash democracy in Spain are the same forces which would destroy our constitutional rights at home.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939

“On March 7, 1936, Hitler’s army marched unopposed into the Rhineland, a demilitarized buffer zone between France and Germany. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull did not protest, and FDR went fishing.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939

“In 1938, U.S. public opinion preferred fascism to communism by 31 percent to 22 percent; 47 percent had “no opinion.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939

“Thousands of left-wing volunteers from all over Europe, along with many Americans and Canadians, answered the Spanish Republic’s call for help and were supported by arms shipments, military advisers, and air force pilots from the Soviet Union. The governments of England, France, and the United States maintained a hypocritical neutrality, embargoing arms shipments and volunteers to both sides.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939

“The best football player in America could not serve as captain of his team. But Paul expressed neither surprise nor anger: by now he knew this was the way the white world operated, and he was able to shrug it off.”
― Paul Robeson Jr., The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist's Journey, 1898-1939