In January 1971, radio reporter Eleanor Fischer interviewed Paul Robeson Jr. for a radio documentary she was producing about his father, Paul Robeson. The CBC documentary covered Robeson’s life extensively and included interviews with friends and colleagues that knew Robeson best, along with his only son. The interviews presented here are Fischer's raw, unedited sessions.

Paul Robeson Jr. and his father in 1963.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

The first segment above is Paul Robeson Jr. speaking about his father’s statement at the Paris Peace Conference in 1949 which was as follows:

"It is unthinkable that American Negroes could go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed them for generations against the Soviet Union, who in one generation, has raised our people to full human dignity."

It was this statement that eventually led to Robeson’s complete blacklisting and lockout by the American establishment. Paul Jr. also talks about how the white press handled coverage of the Paris conference compared to the black press.

In the next audio segment, Paul Robeson Jr. comments on the Peekskill Riot that happened in New York during a concert in which Paul Robeson Sr. was scheduled to perform. The concert was an annual event held to raise money for a southern educational group and sponsored by the Civil Rights Congress. Robeson had played the concert the previous four years. His son discusses the riots, and how his father’s life was in danger along with those attending the concert. He says it was a surprise that nothing happened to his father.

Police help a concert goer to his feet at the Peekskill Riot in 1949.

(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Paul Jr. emphasizes it is important to note that the riot was highly political, and, in fact, a police riot. There were 2,000 policemen ordered to attend the concert to keep order. The sheriff’s deputies lined up and beat the concert goers as they were getting off the buses and heading to the concert. Paul Jr. says the police not only did not protect the concert goers, but they explicitly beat the patrons also. He argues current references to the riot do not refer to its nature; as anti-communist, anti-black, anti-Jewish, tied to his father’s statement at the Paris Peace Conference.

In the final audio portion, Paul Jr. discusses his father’s singing and performances. He talks specifically about Robeson’s most famous song, Old Man River, and how Robeson eventually changed the lyrics to the song to make it an anthem of resistance and defiance. Paul Jr. also discusses his father’s controversial use of a microphone in venues like Carnegie Hall, and how this was perceived by critics and fans. He says the reason Robeson Sr. used a microphone was that his voice was not like that of an opera singer’s, but similar to a popular or folk singer.

Special thanks to Elizabeth Starkey.

WNYC Archives id: 61658, 61461