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A REVIEW OF THE PAUL ROBESON EXHIBITION WHICH I SAW AT CARDIFF MUSEUM, MAY,2001.
Some brief history.
Paul Robeson lived from 1898-1976.
He was born in Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.A.
His father was an escaped slave turned preacher.
Admitted to American Bar having passed a Law Degree in deference to a star athletic career.
Stage career started in New York 1921.
Came to act in Britain in 1922.
Law degree awarded 1923.
Played Shakespeare's Othello in London 1930.
Visited Soviet Union in 1934.
At the end of World War Two an embittered relationship with the U.S.A. started.
From 1958 to 1963 he was based in the U.K. and toured Soviet Bloc.
Between 1950 and 1958 his passport was withdrawn by U.S. authorities.
He retired back to the U.S. in 1963.
His autobiography is called "Here I Stand" and was published in 1958.
THE REVIEW
A warm day late May in the blooming gardens before Cardiff museum. Beckoning from within the Paul Robeson exhibition. Making my way through balmy breezes, past the cool fountain, I found the thankfully free exhibition introduced by a large board. Every word presented on boards this way I found to be inescapable reading. A series of large chambers housed the exhibition, white painted walls with a black ceiling. Various displays centrally in cases and on podiums presented memorabilia, artefacts and some powerful artistic statements concerning the life of Paul Robeson. There were original costumes from shows such as Othello.
There were various places also presenting film material through T.V., video, photography and sound. He was remarkable by being multi talented. He was "an athlete, singer, scholar, linguist, actor, orator and an activist." Dominating the entrance by this statement was a gigantic model of the chains that bound negro slaves.
Gradually the boards round the walls unfolded the history, how Paul Robeson had descent from the Ibo tribe of Nigeria, how his father had been an escaped slave. It showed how Robeson's voice was used through singing and oratory for peace, socialism and justice throughout the world. Due to his high intelligence and athletic prowess Paul was to earn scholarships to high profile U.S. academic institutions where his lone black presence shines from old group photographs. Early accounts of savage treatment meted out by fellow football team members resentful of his inclusion bring home the isolation and repression he met. His coolness and resolution never to retaliate built his reputation as one of strength and bravery. Throughout his career he was to receive hatred and abuse yet never flinched in his resolution.
Qualifying in Law in America in those days would not give him access to defend a white person, so it was just as well he could sing and act. He acted in O Neill plays. He sang as Othello. In 1928 in Drury Lane he appeared in "Showboat". Old Man River was especially written for him by Oscar Hammerstein II. Paul altered the lyrics to give a more positive drive to the struggle of the black person.
There were many connections with Wales. Insignia of the Rhondda Miners adorn the walls as do many posters, photographs and press cuttings concerning the plight of the Welsh miners. The Spanish Civil War where Welsh people went to fight fascism was depicted in illustrations of the time (If You Tolerate This Then Your Children Will Be Next) Paul sang songs to support the Republican War effort in Spain where Welsh people were active.
He came to South Wales and formed a great affinity with the South Wales miners and their cause. He marched with them and sang with them in the street. He donated money to the hungry families of the miners, he performed in a film "Proud Valley" made in and about South Wales. This final British film reflects the honest sympathy of the Welsh working people with a black working class character. (You can see Paul as "David" in excerpts)
Paul brought out the Negro spiritual song into a new appraisal but looked deeper into the tradition of this music and indeed those folk traditions of people on a world wide basis. His musical career spanned 50 years.
Just how bad racial hatred was in Paul Robeson's time can be followed with a shudder through the accounts of lynchings, massacres and apartheid practised in many forms in the U.S.
Backing the wrong side politically he was to become victim to the "commie" witch hunts which used the F.B.I. as its instrument of investigation. The F.B.I. saw his film "Native Land" as a communist plot. A public statement that a black person should not have to defend a white person in a war if that white person had persecuted him all his life was taken as his confession of guilt, along with the statement that it really wasn't the question if you were a communist or had communist sympathies. He became "demonised" overnight, his passport was seized, the public deserted his shows, it is said the F.B.I. persecuted him till the end of his days.
The last room was a massive collection of graffiti carrying the comments of visitors. The responses show great positivity. Paintings and a mural by local schools reflect much work and study.
This exhibition moved me to tears throughout. Where the deep soulful voice of Paul Robeson didn't reach, the history of a struggle for equality and peace did. A truly remarkable exhibition that I wholeheartedly recommend you see if you can.
ROBERT PARKER-MUNN