Paul Robeson

[filkertom]

African American History Month is coming, and here is a superb dKos diary on the life, times, and struggles of one of the true American Renaissance men of the 20th century, Paul Robeson. If for no other reason, you should check it out for his glorious renditions of "Old Man River" from Showboat.

Comments

[bonnie-rocks.livejournal.com]

I saw this post on my friends of friends list and I wanted to say thank you for remembering Paul Robeson. He really was quite the prolific man, and his life went way beyond just "Old Man River".

I don't think there has been anyone quite like him since. So, really, thank you for giving a nod to Paul Robeson.

~*::Meow::*~

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, and hang out for awhile if you like! I promise not to bite.

[bonnie-rocks.livejournal.com]

I think I might ;) I'm a fan of Filk, and I've definitely heard some of your stuff (which is all awesome, btw). We may have even met at some point (at least in passing) if you've been a guest at I-CON at some point between 2001 and now. :-P

~*::Meow::*~

[gorgeousgary]

John McCutcheon tells a wonderful story about a concert he gave in Australia where a steelworker talked him into singing "Joe Hill", which McCutcheon barely remembered from his youth. The reason for the request was that Paul Robeson had turned up on the Sydney Opera House site, given the union workers there (including said steelworker) an inspiring speech, and sung "Joe Hill" for them.

He relates the story on his excellent CD Untold.

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I've done a little reading on Robeson. He's always been the mental image of one of my novel characters. The more I learn, the more Stephen parallels him.

One of my favorite images of Robeson:
(http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v204/valarltd/novelcasting/?action=view&current=paulrobeson-oil.jpg)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

There's video of that in the dKos comments. So cool.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Bweh. YouTube killed the account holding the Old Man River clip dKos linked to. *sigh*

Here's a version from the movie.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPDqc2yz-Y0

[r-caton.livejournal.com]

Is that from "the Emperor Jones"?

Lovely voice that man had.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

I did NOT know enough about Paul Robeson.

You and JekyllnHyde and right: He deserves much more recognition for what he's done off-stage.