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\u201cGod gave me the voice that people want to hear,\u201d Paul Robeson, the great African American singer, actor and activist, told the Black newspaper \u201cThe New York Age\u201d in a 1949 interview.<\/p>\n
Aware of his powers and obliged by his influence, Robeson inserted himself into an incredibly fraught moment in American history. His powerful advocacy for the rights of Black and working-class Americans made him a hero, but his political leanings put him at odds with the prevailing anti-Communist forces in Congress, which eventually impeded his career. Robeson\u2019s fame was global, however, and he had plenty of opportunities abroad \u2014 until his U.S. passport was revoked because he would not disavow membership in the Communist Party in writing. He landed before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1956, and although he was unafraid of being a lightning rod, he was wearied by it, too.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Today, the legacy of Robeson\u2019s divine bass-baritone voice and its oratorial capaciousness has outlasted the political tarring and feathering. There is no contemporary analogue for Robeson, an artist in a classical medium who became a household name and leveraged his fame to drive a public conversation around peace and justice. (Yo-Yo Ma, the beloved cellist who created the multicultural Silk Road Project, arguably comes closest, but without the controversy.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n