African Revolutionary Writers, Part 2a
Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson was
the Chairman of the Council on African Affairs,
an organisation based in New York from 1937 until it was shut down by
McCarthyism in 1955. W.
E. B. Du Bois was vice-chair.
The Council on
African Affairs was a vital link between the struggles of the African-Americans
of the Americas, and the National Democratic Revolutions that were getting
under way in those years, in Africa.
In the Council on
African Affairs can be seen the historical and not just the theoretical unity
between the descendents of the slaves that had been taken from Africa, and the
people struggling for freedom from colonialism in Africa itself. The connection
with the South African liberation struggle was direct, via Mr E. S. Reddy and
Dr Yusuf Dadoo, among others.
It was a two-way
street. Sometimes the African-American (and Afro-Caribbean) leadership was in
front, and at other times the African example was to an extent impelling the
trans-Atlantic struggles. This is the main reason why this body of literature,
called “African Revolutionary Writers” does, and must of necessity, include
many African writers from across the sea.
Paul Robeson
himself was an extraordinary man who achieved excellence in many fields,
including sport and scholarship, before becoming a star of the theatre and the
cinema, and becoming a performing, recording and broadcasting artist as a
singer.
The attached
document can give a good idea of who Paul Robeson was and the role that he
played in the liberation struggle, as well as among the people of the United
States of America.
·
The above serves to
introduce the original reading-text: Excerpts from “Paul
Robeson Speaks”, 1953.
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