Publicity photo of Paul Robeson, 1930s
As a successful actor, athlete, singer and activist, Paul Robeson‘s impact on American culture is profound. At the height of his popularity, he was a cultural leader in the war against fascism abroad and racism at home. Though Robeson was respected by peers like Eleanor Roosevelt, W.E.B. Du Bois, Marian Anderson, Pablo Neruda and Lena Horne, he struggled for further understanding of cultural difference in the United States and was Blacklisted in the 1950s. Here are a selection of quotes from Robeson on the importance of the artist as a powerful voice against oppression.
Paul Robeson on the power of the artist
“Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization’s radical voice.” — Paul Robeson
“Every artist, every scientist, must decide now where he stands. He has no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers. Through the destruction, in certain countries, of the greatest of man’s literary heritage, through the propagation of false ideas of racial and national superiority, the artist, the scientist, the writer is challenged. The struggle invades the formerly cloistered halls of our universities and other seats of learning. The battlefront is everywhere. There is no sheltered rear.” — Paul Robeson, “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974″
“As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this.” — Paul Robeson
“Through my singing and acting and speaking, I want to make freedom ring. Maybe I can touch people’s hearts better than I can their minds, with the common struggle of the common man.” — Paul Robeson
“The artist must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery.” — Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson on the fight for freedom
“This is our home and this is our country. Beneath its soil lie bones of our fathers; for it some of them fought, bled, and died. Here we were born and here we will stay.” — Paul Robeson
“You want to shut up every Negro who has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people, for the rights of workers, and I have been on many a picket line for the steelworkers too.” — Paul Robeson, Philip Sheldon Foner (1978). — Paul Robeson, “Paul Robeson speaks: writings, speeches, interviews, 1918-1974”
“Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are in chains, but they strain toward the new day drawing near.” — Paul Robeson
“To be free . . . to walk the good American earth as equal citizens, to live without fear, to enjoy the fruits of our toil, to give our children every opportunity in life–that dream which we have held so long in our hearts is today the destiny that we hold in our hands.” — Paul Robeson, “Here I Stand“
