Paul Robeson
New York: Knopf, 1988. First edition. Hardcover. First edition/printing. Fine (tiny red dot top edge) in fine dust jacket. Hardcover. xiii+ 804 pp. with index. Illustrated with photographs. Full scale biography of Paul Robeson (1898-1976), a major American figure, the great black singer and actor who was perhaps the most pasionatly outspoken advocate of racial equality of his time. Son of a former slave, Robeson attended Rutgers where he distinguished himself both as an All American athlete and a Phi Beta Kappa scholar. During the Harlem Renaissance, he became a foremost interpreter of spirituals. On dstage , he moved from the title role in O'Neill's "Emperor Jones" at the Provincetown Playhouse to his eventual triuphant performance on Broadway as Othello. Though his prodigious talents might have allowed Robeson to bypass the pervasive racial injustices of the time, he chose instead to challenge them head on; as aerly as his mid thirties, he searched for artictic vehicles that would meaningfully reflect his African heritage. After World War II, he beacme a person of interest for both Senator Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover's FBI both nof whom viewed him as a Soviet apologists. In 1950, he was effectively cut off from his international audience when the State Department revoked his passport. In his final years, his health and career both broken, he was forced to the sidelines of the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and early 70s. Fine / fine. Item #E25389G
ISBN: 0394527801
Price: $19.50