IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 LMA/4231
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: RECORDINGS, WRITINGS AND EPHEMERA RELATING TO THE LIFE AND WORKS OF PAUL ROBESON
Date(s): 1935-1985
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 1.79 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Various.
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Paul Robeson was born on 9th April 1898 in Princeton to the Rev William Drew and Maria Louisa Robeson. His father was a former slave who had escaped to freedom at age 15 and earned a theological degree at Lincoln University. He worked as pastor of Princeton's Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church for twenty years until the authorities forced him to resign believing him to be a 'misfit' who fosters 'a general unrest and dissatisfaction on the part of others'. At age 55 William Drew had to support his family by driving coaches and hauling ashes. Further tragedy was to beset the Robeson family in 1904 when Maria Robeson was burned to death when her clothes caught fire over an open coal stove.
In 1907 the family moved to Westfield, where Paul's father built a small church and ministered a small congregation for the next 3 years before the family moved again to Somerville. Here the family finally settled. William Drew became pastor of St Thomas A.M.E Zion Church and Paul attended Somerville High School where his talent for academic study, music, oratory and athletics became apparent.
In 1915 Paul Robeson won a 4 year scholarship to Rutgers, and despite much physical intimidation he became one of the best football players of his generation. In May 1918 the Reverend Robeson died.
Paul Robeson graduated from Rutgers in 1919 and was accepted to Columbia University Law School where he financed his studies by tutoring in Latin and playing pro-football. In 1920 he met Eslanda 'Essie' Goode, the first black analytical chemist at Columbia Medical Centre whom he married in 1921.
His acting debut came in 1922 as Jim in Taboo at the Sam Harris Theatre, and after some hesitation he agreed to star in a British production of the play renamed Voodoo, where he met Lawrence Brown, a black American musician who was to become a life-long friend. In 1923 Paul Robeson was hired as the only African-American at the law firm of Stotesbury and Miner in New York but shortly after resigned his law career when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him.
Over the next ten years Paul Robeson's acting career made him an internationally known star. His films included Eugene O'Neill's All Gods Chillun' Got Wings, The Emperor Jones, Sanders of the River, Jericho and Song of Freedom, as well as stage productions of Show Boat, Porgy and most famously Othello in which Robeson was only the second black actor to portray Othello. By 1932 Robeson's marriage and his health were beginning to fail, but at the same time Robeson's interest in political and ethnic concerns were coming to the fore. In 1934 he made a whistlestop tour of the Soviet Union and considered resettling his family there in a country where he felt all races were treated equally. This tour however helped to fuel the hostility felt toward Robeson's outspoken opinions.
In 1937 at London's Albert Hall Robeson brought the Hall to a standstill by changing the lyrics of Ol' Man River from "I'm tired of livin' and scared of dyin'" to "I must keep fightin' until I'm dyin'"
Throughout the Second World War Robeson continued to fight for leftist and anti-fascist causes, inspite of being hounded by the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a communist and being placed under surveillance by the FBI.
In March 1947 Robeson announced that he would stop doing professional concerts for two years and devote himself to the fight against racial prejudice. In 1950 he was asked to give up his passport after denouncing the Korean War. Paul Robeson refused. In answer to his refusal the State department told him he could keep his passport if he swore he was not a communist, again he refused, filing a suit against the State demanding the return of his passport. It was not to be returned until 1958.
The last ten years of Robeson's life were beset with illness both himself suffering from exhaustion to chronic depression and Essie who had terminal cancer but kept it from Paul until her death in 1965 two days before her seventieth birthday. In 1974 the FBI concluded that 'no further investigation [of Robeson] is warranted'. In 1976 aged 77 Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia on January 23. Five thousand mourners attended his funeral, where they listened to recorded spirituals sung by Robeson.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Collection of material relating to the singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson, including a large number of recordings on tape and vinyl of Paul Robesons' wide repertoire of songs and a series of reel-to-reel tapes including interviews and radio programmes made with Robeson; and letters and photographs and a series of scrapbooks (put together by Ken Goodland) of newspaper cuttings charting the life and career of Paul Robeson.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Audio (LMA/4231/A) and Written Material (LMA/4231/B).
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to this collection rests with the City of London.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
The records were deposited in 1999 by the wife of the late Ken Goodland who was an avid collector of material relating to Paul Robeson. Mr. Goodland became a fan of the singer when he was a child and his large collection of material has been used in many exhibitions over the years in Bristol and Wales, and in the GLC exhibition in 1985.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
Further material relating to Paul Robeson and especially the 1985 GLC exhibition can be found among the records of the GLC.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: August to October 2010.