Ffeil / File 3/3 - Let Paul Robeson Sing

Paul Leroy Robeson, bass baritone singer and actor, was born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1898. Early in his life, Robeson was one of the most influential participants in the Harlem Renaissance, an intellectual, social and artistic revolution which took place in New York's Harlem district during the 1920s, succeeding in making his mark at a time when hostility and racist attitudes towards African Americans was rife. Between 1925 and 1961 he recorded around 276 songs, including Negro spirituals (which he effectively brought into the American mainstream), folk, classical and spoken poetry. He brought dignity and pride to the African American acting profession with rôles in film productions such as Show Boat (1936) and The Proud Valley (1940), the latter filmed on location in the South Wales coalfields, and, in 1943, became the first African American to play the rôle of Othello with a white supporting cast on Broadway. For much of his life, Robeson was active in the field of human rights and social justice, speaking out on behalf of the Civil Rights Movement, the Council on African Affairs (CAA) and the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War. He was among the first artists to refuse to play live to segregated audiences.

Some Welsh.