Paul Robeson (158 page)

Carlton Goodlett, the left-wing black physician and publisher in San Francisco, credits Rev. F. D. Haynes of the Third Baptist Church (the largest black church in San Francisco) for PR's breakthrough singing engagement. Following that concert, the Baptist Ministers Union of Alameda County obtained the use of the Oakland Municipal Auditorium from the Oakland City Council for a Robeson concert—the first time since 1952 that a civic building had been made available to him. There was vigorous protest from right-wing groups, but the black community “developed a counterforce” and the City Council held firm. Despite torrents of rain on the day of the concert, the auditorium was filled to overflowing one hour before PR's performance began. The Oakland police, Alameda County sheriff, and federal officers took down the license-plate numbers of those parked outside (Carlton Goodlett, ms. reminiscences of PR, in the PR Archiv, GDR). In L.A., Robeson gave two concerts at the progressive First Unitarian Church (Stephen H. Fritchman was its minister) to help the church defray the costs of raising additional tax monies resulting from its refusal to abide by California loyalty oaths. He was also sponsored in L.A. by the Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born, on the Attorney General's “subversive” list, and by the Los Angeles Committee to Secure
Justice for Morton Sobell, in prison on Alcatraz Island as a result of the Rosenberg case. While in L.A., PR stayed with black friends, Frankie and George Sims, both active in the L.A. National Negro Labor Council, and was guest of honor at a private dinner at the home of Dalton Trumbo, the blacklisted screenwriter. The Los Angeles
Herald Dispatch
(July 4, 1957) described him editorially as “the man best fitted, by virtue of sincerity, integrity and courage, to give leadership to the Negro people in this day”—though at the same time it expressed the hope that he had “learned a lesson” about the “left progressives” he had surrounded himself with for fifteen to twenty years and who had “failed to give him the proper support”; they had “isolated [him] from his own people,” so that the “Negro masses (had also) failed to rise to support him because they were unfamiliar with his activities.” This affirmation from the black community, however tempered, gave PR a real boost: “a very happy experience,” is how ER described it (ER to Rev. Riley, Aug. 6, 1957, RA). Details of PR's activities and the concert reviews are in: Los Angeles
Herald Dispatch
, July 4, 1957; California
Jewish Voice
, June 21, 1957;
People's World
, June 29, Aug. 3, 10, 1957; California
Eagle
, July 4, 1957; San Francisco
Sun Reporter
, July 20, Aug. 31, 1957; FBI Main 100-12304-408, FBI New York 100-25857-2965, 3021.

7
. Statements of support from many people were published in a pamphlet,
Let Robeson Sing
, put out by the London Robeson Committee (a copy is in RA). Flora Robson and J. Dover Wilson wrote supporting letters to the London
Times
(May 4, 10, 1957). Driberg's column is in
Reynolds News
, May 12, 1957. The British Equity resolution and the debate surrounding it are described in the Manchester
Guardian
, April 20, 1957, and the London
Times
, April 29, 1957. The actor Adolphe Menjou told the New York columnist Hy Gardner he was “incensed” at British Equity (
Herald Tribune
, May 14, 1957). According to Cedric Belfrage (interview, May 29, 1984), Laurence Olivier was one of the few in England to refuse to lend his name. PR also valued an invitation to appear at the International Music Festival Prague Spring (Vilein Pospisil to PR, Jan. 25, 1957; PR to Pospisil, March 16, 1957, RA).

8
. The two fullest accounts are Cedric Belfrage's article in the
National Guardian
, May 27, 1957, and the detailed report he wrote ER, May 27, 1957, RA. Additional details are in Belfrage to ER, May 1, 10, 20, 28, 30, 31, 1957; ER to Belfrage, May 13, 30, June 5, 17, 1957—all in RA.

9
. Belfrage to ER, May 27, 1957, RA; Manchester
Guardian
, May 28, 1957; ER to Belfrage, May 30, June 5, 1957, RA. In his May 27 letter Belfrage reported that “One thing that was particularly good was the number of Negroes in the concert audience—I should think at least 150. We also had mainly African and West Indian students as ushers.” Taking a page from Belfrage's book, the South Wales miners arranged for a transatlantic transmission for the Eisteddfod in Oct. 1957 (Dilwyn Jones to PR, Oct. 25, 1957; Paynter and Evans to PR, October 7, 1957, RA).

10
. Boudin to PR, with enclosed copies of correspondence with the Passport Division, Jan. 22, Feb. 19, March 15, May 10, 1957, RA; interview with Boudin, July 14, 1982; Boudin passport-case files, courtesy of Boudin.

11
. The full transcript of the hearing is in FBI New York 100-25857-1A88; FBI Main 100-12304-403 (“wash out”).

12
. ER to Mr. Evans, Aug. 29, 1957 (perjury fear); Knight (Passport Division) to PR, Aug. 9, 1957; Boudin to PR, Aug. 13, 1957. FBI Main 100-12304-427 (Trinidad). The Jagans had met and corresponded with the Robesons (e.g., Janet Jagan to ER, Oct. 2, 1957, RA).

13
. Shaw to PR, Oct. 16, 1957, RA. Shaw had first sounded out PR about the possibilities of
Pericles
in Jan. 1957 (ER to Paul Endicott, Jan. 15, 1957, RA); the formal invitation and announcements ten months later were aimed at public relations. Boudin to PR, Nov. 7, 1957; Boudin to John Abt (who had joined as PR's counsel; Abt was known as the lawyer for the CPUSA), Dec. 6, 1957, enclosing draft letter to Frances G. Knight; Boudin to Knight, Dec. 10, 1957—all in RA.

14
. ER to Shaw, Nov. 15, 1957; ER and PR to Shaw, Nov. 26, 1957; Shaw to
ER and PR, Nov. 22, 1957; Tony Richardson to PR, three notes, n.d.—all in RA.

15
.
Daily Herald
, Jan. 15, 1958. Harold Davison to PR, Jan. 14, 31, 1958; Richardson to ER and PR, n.d.; Frances G. Knight to Boudin.Jan. 17, 1958; Boudin to Loy Henderson, Jan. 31, 1958; Boudin to PR, Feb. 3, 19, 1958; Boudin to ER, Feb. 7, 25, 1958; ER to Richardson, Feb. l, 1958—all in RA.
Daily Express
, Jan. 31, 1958; see pp. 233–34 for the earlier incidents referred to. Less predictably, the Oxford
Mail
wrote (Jan. 30, 1958), “He has made some most insulting remarks about Britain, but obviously does not mind taking British money”; but the
Mail
did not want to keep him out of Britain—to do that “would be to punish a man for his opinions.”

16
. ER to Shaw, Feb. 22, 1958; Shaw to ER, March 8, 1958, RA. Edric Connor, the West Indian singer and actor, replaced Robeson as Gower, thereby becoming the first black to appear in a Shakespeare season at Stratford. According to the London
Daily Herald
(July 8, 1958), PR had suggested Connor as a replacement. For more on Robeson and Connor, see note 12, p. 686; note 48, p. 750.

17
. FBI New York 100-25857-2921 (“losing courage”), 2927 (“supers”), 3184 (1957 activities); FBI Main 100-12304-428 (1957 activities); ms. of PR's Carnegie Hall speech, Nov. 10, 1957, RA; PR's many New Year's Day greetings are in RA; the Albanian one is dated Feb. 25, 1958.

18
. ER to Richardson, Feb. 1, 1958; Pollard to ER and PR, Jan. 29, 1958; Daisy Bates to PR, Jan. 24, 1958; ER to Bates, Feb. 22, 1958; Archie Moore to PR, Jan. 26, 1958, telegram April 5, 1958—all in RA. Another telegram from Archie Moore to PR, dated Dec. 31, 1958, reads: “One punch was in your behalf. I'm sure you understand me” (RA).

19
. Sacramento
Union
, Oct. 27, 1957; San Francisco
Chronicle
, Feb. 5, 1958; Oregon
Journal
and
The Oregonian
, March 17, 1958. Pleased though he was to have renewed requests for his appearance, PR turned down a tentative invitation for a concert at the Metropolitan A.M.E. Church in Washington, D.C., unless (in ER's paraphrase) it “should be backed by the
NEGRO COMMUNITY,
not just one church, in order to insure that the concert will be properly supported by a wide section of the community, and not become involved in fears and rivalries and uncertainties of individuals or small groups” (George Murphy.Jr., to ER, Feb. 22, 1958; ER to GM, Jr., Feb. 28, 1958, MSRC: Murphy).

20
. FBI Main 100-12304-465, 501, 511, 515.

21
. FBI Main 100-12304-465 (Perry), 511 (left prominence). Hoover decided not to survey PR's residence for “installation of a tesur,” since his continuing travels would prevent “sufficient day-to-day coverage” of his activities (FBI Main 100-12304-501, May 28, 1958). Interview with Rose Perry, April 27, 1982; ER to Pettis Perry, Nov. 16, 1957, NYPL/Schm: Perry Papers. When SAC, New York, later recommended to Hoover that PR “be removed from the Key Figure list of the NYO” (FBI Main 100-12304-545, Oct. 17, 1958), Hoover replied that “The Bureau does not concur with your recommendation.… Robeson continues to be of sufficient importance and potential dangerousness from an internal security standpoint to require his immediate apprehension in the event of an emergency.… Robeson's current activities and freedom to travel enhance his value to the communist movement. It is, therefore, felt that his potential dangerousness to the internal security of the United States is increased” (Hoover to SAC, New York, Oct. 28, 1958, FBI Main 100-12304-545). PR, Jr., ms. comments (accident). For more on the St. Louis and Los Angeles incidents, see pp. 317 and 431.

22
. Oakland
Tribune
, Feb. 10, 1958 (“velvety”); San Francisco
Chronicle
, Feb. 10, 1958 (“greatest basso”); FBI New York 100-25857-3502; FBI Main 100-12304-515 (effective). PR billed his 1958 concerts as “informal recitals,” combining songs with his reflections on “the origins of, and relations between, folk music”—meaning theories on the pentatonic scale (PR press release, RA). Geri Branton (interview, April 2, 1982 [PR, Jr., participating]) confirmed PR's enthusiastic
reception in the black community.

23
. Pittsburgh
Courier
, April 12, 19, 28, 1958. The FBI kept fully posted on the events in Pittsburgh (FBI Main 100-12304-512). Rosalie to Marian Forsythe, April 22, 1958, courtesy of Paulina Forsythe.

24
. ER to Burroughs, March 22, 1958; ER to Bennett, March 22, 1958; ER to Ishmael Flory, March 23, 1958—all in RA; interview with Oscar Brown, Sr., July 2, 1986. By the time of the Alpha Phi Alpha national convention the following year, Ishmael Flory, who attended, found “attitudes towards both Du Bois and Robeson very high, very high” (interviews with Flory, July 1–2, 1986).

25
. Interview with Margaret Burroughs, July 1, 1986; interview with Julia Lorchard, July 2, 1986. Mrs. Lorchard has recently (1986) given her husband's papers to Du Sable Museum in Chicago, and I found them a rich source. Also useful was a 1969 tape Studs Terkel played for me made with various prominent blacks in the Chicago area, including Margaret Burroughs (for a full description of the tape, see note 7, p. 577.

26
. Interview with Sam Parks, Dec. 27, 1986, plus follow-up phone discussion, Dec. 30, 1986.

27
. Ibid.

28
. Interviews with Ishmael Flory, July 1–2, 1986; interview with Oscar Brown, Sr., July 2, 1986;
Jet
, April 17, 1958; Murphy to ER, April 10, 1958, RA; MacDonald,
Black and White TV
, pp. 56–57 (local TV). According to Flory, the establishment of the Afro-American Heritage Association was the direct result of PR's 1958 visit to Chicago. A number of people had asked Robeson what they could do to help, and he had suggested they direct their energies toward disseminating information about the Afro-American past. Flory described the Heritage Association as “an effort to build local heritage associations for the purpose of stressing the Negro's past history in communities of Negro population of 2000 or over” (Flory to Pettis Perry, May 30, 1958, NYPL/Schm: Perry Papers).

29
. The quotations in this and the following paragraph are from PR,
Stand
, pp. 1–2, 38–40. The 1958 edition of
Here
I Stand
was issued by Othello Associates and was dedicated to ER (a rather impersonal acknowledgment of her political labors). Angus Cameron, the radical editor at Knopf who had known PR in the Progressive movement, had been trying since the 1940s to get him to write an autobiography; he believes PR did not submit
Here I Stand
to him for possible publication because he wanted to keep “full control” in his own hands (interview with Cameron, July 15, 1986). The 1971 edition (Beacon Press) contains an informative preface by Lloyd L. Brown about the book's initial reception and a brief Afterword (dated Aug. 28, 1964) by PR in which he takes pleasure in noting recent “transformations” that had changed his 1958 emphasis on the “power of Negro action” from “an idea into a reality that is manifesting itself throughout our land. The concept of mass militancy, of mass action, is no longer deemed ‘too radical' in Negro life.” There was open displeasure among some in the CPUSA over PR's emphasis in
Here I Stand
on the need for blacks themselves—rather than the Party—to serve as the vanguard in the black struggle.

30
.
Stand
, pp. 98–99, 103.

31
.
The Afro-American
, Feb. 22, March 15, May 3, 1958; Pittsburgh
Courier
, Feb. 22, March 29, 1958; Chicago
Crusader
, March 8, 1958;
Herald Dispatch
, May 8, 1958;
The Crisis
, March 1958; “Summary Financial Statement” as of May 31, 1959, RA. Continuing his campaign to mend fences, PR sent an inscribed copy of the book to Ralph Bunche, who acknowledged it politely (Bunche to PR, Feb. 14, 1958, RA). The FBI also took an interest in the book, following its publication history and sales closely (FBI New York 100-25857-3266). In a bugged conversation between Lloyd Brown and Ben Davis, FBI SAC New York reported to J. Edgar Hoover (Sept. 15, 1958, FBI Main 100-12304-541) that Brown felt a recent speech by A. Philip Randolph was “right out of the book on the subject of white allies” and that “even” Adam Clayton Powell was “red-baiting less and less”; Davis responded with the assertion that
Here I Stand
“is going to be like Tom
Paine's
Common Sense
as far as Negroes are concerned.”
The Afro-American
serialized
Here I Stand
in nine weekly installments in the spring of 1958, as arranged for by George Murphy, Jr. (GM, Jr., to ER, Dec. 20, 1957, Jan. 13, 1958; GM, Jr., to Carl Murphy, Dec. 20, 1957, MSRC: Murphy).