|
1958 
· Publishes Here I Stand,
written with Lloyd Brown, to set the record
straight about confusion between his actual statements and reports
about them. Book meets with instant success in sales, receives
favorable reviews in Black and leftist publications, but is totally
ignored by mainstream press and is blacklisted by most bookstores. Not
only does the white commercial press decline to review the book, they
refuse even to include it in their lists of new books.
· Baltimore Afro-American newspaper serializes Here I Stand in five
weekly installments.
· Vanguard Records begins making new records with Robeson.
· Paul Robeson, a biography by British drama critic, Marie Seton, is
published in London.
January 29, 1958
Is interviewed in the office
of The Morning News, San Leandro, CA; article appears in January 30
issue.
February 9, 1958
In "An Afternoon of Music and
Poetry," sponsored by ILWU Local 6 and
the West Oakland Social and Civic Club in honor of National Negro
History Week, sings and discusses the universality of music to a crowd
of 2,000, at Municipal Auditorium Theatre, Oakland, CA.
March, 1958
Performs at Civic Auditorium
in San Jose, sponsored by AME Zion Church.
March 15, 1958
Is interviewed on KPFA Radio,
in San Francisco. (Foner)
March 17, 1958
Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker of
American Embassy in New Delhi, India,
informs US State Department that Prime Minister Nehru’s daughter,
Indira Ghandi, is organizing national committee to sponsor a “Paul
Robeson Day.” State Department fails in frantic effort to prevent
celebrations of Robeson’s birthday in India.
March 23, 1958
Gives concert at First AME
Church, San Jose, CA.
March 28, 1958
American Actors’ Equity
Association, a year after their British
counterparts, passes resolution to assist Robeson in passport fight and
urges State Department to restore the passport.
April, 1958
· The
Bulletin, publication of the Workers’ Music Association, London, is
dedicated to Robeson in honor of his 60th birthday.
·
After the management of the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, in
Pittsburgh, PA, cancels his scheduled concert, gives concerts at two
leading Black churches in that city.
April 9, 1958
60th
birthday is celebrated in Europe, the Soviet Union, Latin America, Asia
and Africa, for a total of twenty-seven countries, as well as in
several US cities. Robeson is present at the public party sponsored by
the Chicago Council for American-Soviet Friendship, held at Masonic
Temple, in Chicago, attended by 750. In an unprecedented move, Indian
Prime Minister Nehru sends greetings to the event. The message is
considered by the US State Department as a breach of protocol and
results in sharp exchanges between the two governments. The Chinese
government also sends a birthday message.
April 11 and 12, 1958
Gives two concerts at Mandel Hall, University of Chicago, sponsored by
the Students Representative Party. Following the second concert, sings
and speaks at a “smoker” given in his honor by the Chicago branch of
his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha.
April 13, 1958
· Sings and speaks at Sunday morning service at Chicago’s Greater
Walters AME Zion Church.
· Honored for his 60th birthday, at a party sponsored by the Chicago
Citizens Committee and the African American Heritage Association, held
at Parkway Ballroom, Chicago.
April 20, 1958
Scheduled interview at
Chicago TV station WBKB-ABC is cancelled by president of ABC.
April 22, 1958
The Council of Methodist
Episcopal Bishops report that the government's
denial of Robeson's passport is causing anti-American feelings in
Africa.
May 9, 1958
After 10-year absence, makes
triumphant return to a sold-out Carnegie
Hall. At end of concert, announces, to thunderous applause, that his
passport battle has been won.
May 23, 1958
In response to overwhelming
popular demand, gives second sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall within
one month.
June 1, 1958
Gives concert at AME Zion
Church, New York City, his last concert in the US.
June 16, 1958
Supreme Court rules that “The
State Department was not authorized by
Congress to withhold people’s passports because of alleged beliefs or
associations.” Government delivers Robeson’s passport to him the
following day. This ruling aided not only Robeson, but many others
whose passports had been illegally revoked, including veterans of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade upon their return from Spain in the late 1930s.
July, 1958
·
Passport
having been restored following 8-year world-wide campaign of pressure
and protest, and having received hundreds of invitations from all parts
of the world, leaves almost immediately to again sing for the workers
in the British Isles, and in Prague, Berlin and Soviet Union. Receives
a hero’s welcome everywhere he goes.
· Visits
British Parliament, where a luncheon is given in his honor.
·
Does
series of concerts on British television.
August, 1958
· Hailed in Moscow and begins
month-long Soviet tour.
· Appears in concerts and interviews on Moscow TV.
· Sings and speaks to 18,000 fans at Moscow University's sports palace.
· Is made Honorary Professor, Moscow State Conservatory of Music for
his “researches in folk music of all nations and his use of music to
strengthen and enlarge understanding and promote friendship between all
peoples."
· Visits Artek Children's Summer Camp, in the Crimea, USSR.
· Performs at opening ceremony of Afro-Asian Film Festival, held in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The 15-day event is to help film workers in Asian
and African countries to learn about each other’s films and establish
friendly contacts.
August
4, 1958
Sings at National Eisteddfod, music festival of Welsh miners, in Ebbw
Vale, Wales. In appreciation for the support he gave them during the
1920s and 1930s, thousands of miners and their families give a rousing,
tearful welcome to their Great Honorary Welsh Hero and present him with
a miniature Miners’ Lamp.
August 10, 1958
Sings at Royal Albert Hall,
London, with 8,000 in attendance.
September 17, 1958
Starts tour in German
Democratic Republic
October, 1958
Sings at National Eisteddfod, music festival of Welsh miners, in Ebbw
Vale, Wales. In appreciation for the support he gave them during the
1920s and 1930s, thousands of miners and their families give a rousing,
tearful welcome to their Great Honorary Welsh Hero and present him with
a miniature Miners’ Lamp.
.October 7, 1958
Street is named in his honor
in Lvov, Poland.
October 12, 1958
Climaxes British concert tour
with benefit recital at St. Paul’s
Cathedral, London, to raise funds for the defense of jailed South
African leaders. Is first secular artist and first person of African
descent to stand at lectern of Cathedral; sings to 4,000 persons seated
inside, while 5,000 more stand outside, listening. London newspapers
widely report the event as an historic one.
November 25, 1958
Gives concert at Town Hall, Birmingham, UK.
November 26, 1958
Birmingham Peace Committee holds Luncheon in honor of Robeson, at the
Imperial Hotel, Birmingham, England.
1959
Sings and speaks to tens of
thousands gathered in a Paris park.
February 21-March 3, 1959
Attends World Peace Council
meeting in Moscow. Performs in Moscow; then makes concert tour to
several Soviet cities.
April, 1959
·
Begins
seven-month run of Othello at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre,
Stratford-on-Avon, England; between performances, maintains hectic
schedule of political appearances.
· Performs and speaks
at African Freedom Day Concert, sponsored by the Movement for Colonial
Freedom.
· Speaks at Disarmament Rally, Trafalgar Square, London.
· Is awarded Honorary Membership in the Musicians’ Union,
London.
May, 1959
Appears on two BBC-TV
programs and is featured on ten Sunday-night radio broadcasts.
June, 1959
Attends Congress of Socialist
Culture in Prague.
June 29, 1959
Sings and speaks at huge “Ban
The Bomb” gathering at Trafalgar Square in London.
August 4, 1959
Sings and speaks at World
Youth Festival in Vienna, attended by 17,000
from 82 countries. Criticizes US foreign and domestic policies.
January, 1960
· Makes month-long concert tour of
Soviet Union.
· Attends meetings of World Peace Council.
· Sings and speaks to workers at Ball Bearing Plant No. 1, in Moscow.
February 21-May 15, 1960
· Performs in 32-city tour of
British Isles, including large disarmament rallies.
· Appears in second series of BBC radio broadcasts.
May 1, 1960
Returns to Scotland as guest
of honor at annual May Day celebrations of
mine workers. Sings and speaks to the 20,000 gathered there and
receives the Scottish Miners’ Lamp.
May 15, 1960
Speaks and sings at Ban The Bomb Rally, Trafalgar Square,
London.
June
4, 1960
Performs concert, with the Birmingham Clarion Singers, at Town Hall,
Birmingham, England.
October, 1960
Awarded honorary Doctor of
Philosophy degree, for his “services in the
great struggle for peace,” from Humboldt University, Berlin, honorary
membership in the German Academy of Arts, German Democratic Republic,
and the Order of the Star of International Friendship from the GDR
government. (Foner)
October-November, 1960
Last concert tour takes him
and his lifelong accompanist Lawrence Brown
to Australia and New Zealand for ten weeks. Peace reception is given in
his honor in Sydney. In speech entitled “The People Must, If Necessary,
Impose the Peace,” at Melbourne Peace Conference, calls for complete
disarmament and friendship among all peoples. By invitation of the
Building Workers’ Industrial Union, appears at the construction site of
the Sydney Opera House, where he sings to the workers. In Wellington,
since to striking dock workers and accepts honorary membership in their
union. Throughout the tour, when speaking at events or to the press,
always expresses his concern over the mistreatment of the Maoris in New
Zealand and the aboriginal peoples in Australia.
1961
Is invited by President Kwame
Nkrumah of Ghana to chair the music and
drama departments at the University of Accra. While the State
Department fails in its attempt to block the appointment, Robeson,
although “delighted and honored” by the offer, must decline, due to ill
health.
January-March, 1961
Appears on a series of BBC Radio broadcasts.
March 5, 1961
Sings at Royal Albert Hall, London, at a meeting to support the release
of Jomo Kenyatta from prison in Kenya.
January, 1963
Paul Robeson Choir is
established in German Democratic Republic.
August 27, 1963
Interviewed in London, in
connection with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
and the March on Washington; expressing his optimism for the coming
changes, declares, “The turning point has come for the American Negro
people.”
December 22, 1963
Arrives in New York after five
and a half years’ absence from US. Asked
by reporters at the airport if he would “take part in the civil rights
program,” replies, “Yes, I’ve been part of it all my life.” The New
York Times, without the slightest evidence, headlines story,
“Disillusioned Native Son: Paul Robeson.” Other establishment
newspapers print similar distortions.
May, 1964
Speaks to 30th Anniversary
Celebration of ILWU, commemorating the 1934 General Strike in San
Francisco.
August 27, 1964
Delivers eulogy at the funeral of his closest friend for forty years,
Benjamin J. Davis, City Councilman from Harlem, 1944-46, and the first
Black Communist to be elected to public office in the United
States.
August 28, 1964
Having refused, over past 8
months, since return from abroad, to give
any interviews, issues first public statement, exclusively to African
American press, saying, in part, “While I must continue my temporary
retirement from public life, I am, of course, deeply involved with the
great upsurge of our people. Like all of you, my heart has been filled
with admiration for the many thousands of Negro freedom fighters and
their white associates who are waging the battle for civil rights
throughout the country and especially in the South.” (Entire statement
is reprinted in 1971 edition and later editions of Here I Stand.)
January 17, 1965
Delivers eulogy at funeral of
friend and playwright Lorraine Hansberry.
April 10, 1965
Paul Robeson Archive is established at the Academy of Arts in Berlin,
GDR. Dedication ceremony is one of many events in an elaborate
celebration lasting several days.
April 22, 1965
Freedomways magazine holds a
celebration of Robeson’s 67th birthday at
Hotel Americana in New York, attended by 2,500. Among the 60
illustrious sponsors and those paying tribute to him are James Baldwin,
Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Earl Dickerson, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane,
Linus Pauling, Earl Robinson, Pete Seeger, Billy Taylor, I.F. Stone.
John O. Killens speaks of Robeson as "the big daddy of all Negro
artists. He taught us the meaning of freedom, that there is no price
too high to pay for it." Keynote speaker John Lewis, Chair of Student
Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, says, in part, "We of SNCC are Paul
Robeson's spiritual children. We, too, have rejected gradualism and
moderation. We are also being accused of radicalism, of communist
infiltration." For reasons of ill health, this will be Robeson's last
public appearance.
May 15, 1965
Freedomways holds a second
Robeson 67th birthday celebration, at the First Unitarian Church in Los
Angeles.
June 4, 1965
“Salute to Paul Robeson” is
held at Jack Tar Hotel, San Francisco, sponsored by The Sun Reporter.
Winter, 1967
Who's Who in American History
includes Robeson.
April, 1968
Celebrations of Robeson’s
70th birthday take place in many countries.
April 8, 1968
British Trade Unions hold 70th
birthday tribute at Royal Festival Hall.
Many old friends and luminaries paying tribute to Robeson include his
two British Desdemonas, Peggy Ashcroft and Mary Ure, actors Peter
O'Toole and Michael Redgrave; many others who can not attend but send
messages include John Dankworth, John Gielgud, Yehudi Menuhin and
Oliver Tambo, who will later become one of the top leaders of the
African National Congress of South Africa.
April 9, 1968
·April
9, 1968 The Paul Robeson Archive, at the GDR Academy of Arts, holds
gala celebration and exhibition in honor of Robeson's 70th birthday at
the State Opera House, in Berlin. The commemoratory ceremony features
Bernice Reagon, of "Sweet Honey in the Rock;" at a point in the
program, the participants stand in silence for one minute out of
respect for the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
·FM radio station in New York
broadcasts 2-hour tribute to Robeson, for his 70th birthday.
April 13, 1969
Meeting in tribute to Robeson
for his 71st birthday is held in Chicago. He is unable to attend, due
to illness.
February 14, 1970
Receives coveted Ira Aldridge
Award from New York Chapter of the Association for the Study of Negro
Life and History.
April 2, 1970
Rutgers University dedicates
the Paul Robeson Music and Arts Lounge, in
Student Center, on New Brunswick campus. Event is sponsored by the
Eastern Region of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity.
September 20, 1970
Is cited by Black Academy of
Arts and Letters for his “immeasurable contribution to our society.”
November, 1970
Black World magazine
publishes “Paul Robeson: Black Star,” a tribute by C.L.R. James.
November 15, 1970
Is presented with Zhitlovsky
Award by Zhitlovsky Foundation for Jewish
Education. Award is accepted by Paul, Jr., at New York Hilton
ceremonies.
November 29, 1970
Local 1199’s Martin Luther
King Jr. Labor Center celebrates opening of
new 15-story headquarters with cultural program entitled “A Tribute to
Paul Robeson.” Participants include Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Pete Seeger,
Mary Travers, Dizzy Gillespie. Two auditoriums are needed to
accommodate huge audience.
December, 1970
Head football coach and
president of Rutgers University criticize
failure of National Football Foundation to select Robeson, twice
All-American, for its Hall of Fame.
1971
· Detroit International
Afro-American Museum holds Paul Robeson Exhibit.
· Canadian Broadcasting Company and a PBS station in New York air
programs on his life.
April, 1971
· Entire first quarter issue
of Freedomways is devoted to “Paul
Robeson: The Great Forerunner.” Contains tributes, poems and articles
by Gwendolyn Brooks, Lloyd L. Brown, Margaret Burroughs, Alice
Childress, Ossie Davis, Shirley Graham Du Bois, Harry Edwards, Nikki
Giovanni, Dick Gregory, Lena Horne, William L. Patterson, Sterling
Stuckey, among others. Also includes selections from Robeson's speeches
and writings.
· Local 1199, New York, holds 73rd birthday celebration, with many
celebrities participating.
April 4-14, 1971
Huge multi-event 73rd birthday
salute is held at the German Academy of
Art, Berlin, GDR, including two-day symposium on his life, entitled
“Paul Robeson and the Afro-American Struggle.” In tribute to Robeson’s
work on the Council on African Affairs in the 1940s, Alex La Guma,
South African scholar and writer, declares, “Until then, I believe,
most Americans thought in terms of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ stories of
Tarzan and the Apes whenever they heard the continent of Africa
mentioned.” Other participants include William L. Patterson, Coretta
Scott King, Angela Davis, John Henrik Clarke.
Spring, 1971
Columbia Records issues new
recording, Paul Robeson Live in Performance.
September, 1971
Beacon Press, Boston,
reprints Here I Stand, with preface by Lloyd Brown and new introduction
by Sterling Stuckey.
November 6, 1971
Receives award as "Pioneer in
Black Achievement" from the International Black Cultural and Business
Exposition.
December 7, 1971
Dizzy Gillespie presents a
“Tribute to Paul Robeson and Black Culture” in the Princeton University
Chapel.
1972
Is selected for special
honors, along with 32 other individuals, and
the only African American, as a charter member of the National Theater
Hall of Fame.
April, 1972
Du Sable Museum of African
American History, Chicago, celebrates
Robeson’s 74th birthday and designates April 9, his birthday, as the
date for an annual cultural and benefit event for the museum.
April 9, 1972
New student center on Newark
campus of Rutgers University is named in
honor of Robeson, its most illustrious alumnus. In dedication speech,
president of the University says, in part, “Today, after a period of
neglect by this University of which I am ashamed, we return to Paul
Robeson some small portion of that great honor he brought to us.”
May 3, 1972
Receives Black Psychiatrist
Association’s Annual Award, citing him as “a model and inspiration” to
Black youth.
August, 1972
Proclaimed by Ebony magazine
one of “The Ten Greats of Black History,”
along with Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, Nat Turner, Booker T. Washington, Marcus
Garvey, Richard Allen. Article states, in part, that Robeson “dedicated
himself totally to the cause of the liberation of all oppressed people
irrespective of color,” and that “no Black man has ever had more to
give—or has given more—to his people than Robeson.”
August 6, 1972
Sunday Arts and Leisure
section of New York Times features article
entitled “Time to Break the Silence Surrounding Paul Robeson.”
September, 1972
Receives National Urban
League’s 2nd annual Whitney M. Young Memorial Award.
October, 1972
Awarded the Duke Ellington
Medal by Yale University.
November, 1972
Hollywood NAACP confers its
Image Award on Robeson for his “eminence as an artist and a fighter for
human justice.”
November 19, 1972
Is inducted into the Theatre
Hall of Fame.
1973
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity at
Lincoln University, PA, establishes Paul Robeson Scholarship Fund.
February, 1973
Veterans of Abraham Lincoln
Brigade, who fought against fascism in
Spain, at celebration of their 36th anniversary, honor Robeson for his
contributions to the cause of Spanish freedom.
February 4, 1973
Berkeley High School
(Berkeley, CA) holds "A Tribute to Paul Robeson, A
Black Man Ahead of His Time," a concert performed by bass Eugene Jones.
February 16, 1973
Freedomways magazine holds
its Annual W.E.B. DuBois Cultural Evening in honor of Robeson.
April 5, 1973
“Birthday tribute to Paul Robeson: Singing out freedom all over the
world,” article in The Morning Star, London, reports on 75th Birthday
Rally, in London on March 11, attended by 3,000 and other tributes
around the world.
April 8-14, 1973
Rutgers University holds
week-long series of events in honor of 75th
birthday and awards him Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Rutgers
President Edward Bloustein, in presenting the award, states, "After a
period of neglect, too long contributed to…by the University, we return
to you, with this degree, some small portion of the great honor you
have brought to us." Program is funded by the University and a $10,000
matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
April 15, 1973
Over 3,000 pack Carnegie Hall
for 75th birthday salute to Robeson and
benefit to establish a Paul Robeson Archive in the US. (One had already
been established in the GDR in 1968.) Program participants include
former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, Pete Seeger, Angela Davis,
Dolores Huerta, Dizzy Gillespie, Odetta, Leon Bibb, Sidney Poitier,
Harry Belafonte (who also produced the show), James Earl Jones, Zero
Mostel, Roscoe Lee Browne, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Coretta Scott King;
hundreds of others, unable to attend, send warm greetings. One such
tribute, from then-Representative Andrew Young, states that had Robeson
not "kept alive a legacy of hope through some of the darkest days of
our history, our accomplishments in the 60s would not have been
possible." Other messages of acknowledgement are received from
President Julius K. Nyerere of Tanzania, President Michael Manley of
Jamaica, President Cheddi Jagan of Guyana, President Kenneth Kaunda of
Zambia, Indira Gandhi, Arthur Ashe, Linus Pauling, Judge George W.
Crockett, Leonard Bernstein and the African National Congress. Too ill
to attend, Robeson sends taped message which is played at event. In
part, says, “Though I have not been able to be active for several
years, I want you to know that I am the same Paul, dedicated as ever to
the worldwide cause of humanity for freedom, peace and brotherhood.”
(Foner)
April 16, 1973
“Salute to Paul Robeson”
portrait and sculpture exhibition opens at
Gallery 1199, of Drug and Hospital Workers’ Union, New York City.
May 2, 1973
The Guardian newspaper reports on the April 15 Carnegie Hall tribute to
Robeson’s 75th birthday.
July, 1973
Black Sports Hall of Fame
honors Robeson for his athletic achievements.
September, 1973
Emmy award given to Robeson
series on National Educational TV.
October 21, 1973
New York Times Book Review
publishes review of Here I Stand (Beacon
Press, 1971), by noted Robeson scholar Sterling Stuckey, the first in
any major commercial paper since the book’s first publication in 1958.
November 4-19, 1973
Rutgers University holds
Robeson film exhibition.
1974
· University of Massachusetts
holds lecture series in Robeson’s honor.
· Inducted into Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame at its founding
ceremonies.
April, 1974
Public high school in East
Berlin is named in Robeson’s honor.
June 1, 1974
Honored by Actors’ Equity
Association as first recipient of annual
award named for him, in “grateful recognition of his distinguished
contributions to the performing arts and for his commitment to the
struggle for a decent world.” Message accepting award is his last
public statement. (Foner)
June 3, 1974
Awarded Honorary Doctor of Law
by Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, the
first Black college in the US and his father's alma mater.
December, 1974
Harper & Row publishes
Paul Robeson: The Life and Times of A Free
Black Man, by Virginia Hamilton, written for ages 12 and up. On
December 22, a New York Times review calls the book “a vivid chronicle
of dignity and determination with which all young people can identify.”
1975
· The Afrikan History Clubs of
McFarland Elementary School, Detroit,
publishes large pamphlet, Salute to Paul Robeson: A Tribute to a
Forgotten Freedom Fighter, to be used as curriculum.
· Dr. Charles Wright, founder of the African American Museum of
Detroit, publishes book, Paul Robeson: Labor’s Forgotten Champion.
January 17-19, 1975
Paul Robeson Film Festival is
held in San Francisco, sponsored by The African-American Historical and
Cultural Society.
June 19, 1975
Congressional Black Caucus
gives Robeson its Special Award of Merit.
December, 1975
Alpha Phi Alpha National
Fraternity establishes Paul Robeson Humanitarian Award.
December 28, 1975
Admitted to Presbyterian
Medical Center in Philadelphia after mild stroke. Condition grows more
serious daily.
January 23, 1976
After more than a decade of
deteriorating health and periods of inactivity, passes away, at age of
77.
|
