Paul Robeson's Opinion On Racial Injustice

Freedom Paul Robeson was a man of many words and had a definite opinion on racial injustice that occurred in his lifetime. Robeson was a brilliant man with many talents which allowed him to create an outlet for himself. He channeled his inner talents through theater, his athleticism, and also as a vocalist. As a multi talented man he gave himself an opportunity to speak on his behalf of the racial discrimination African Americans were facing. He gave a sense of ambition for many African Americans and had a long lived sense of determination for freedom towards himself as well as many others. Paul Robeson took a stand for civil rights and was against the discrimination of his people with using his big screen roles, through sports, as a songwriter,

Jerome Kern along with a lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II both collaborated and wrote a very astounding musical about life along the Mississippi River. Paul Robeson was heavily intrigued by the song and revised it to have it relate to his life. He revised it and related it to many of the lives of African American slaves, “Don't look up An' don't look down You don' dast make De white boss frown Bend your knees An'bow your head An' pull date rope Until you' dead)” (Robeson). He says that the slaves shouldn’t do anything to make your boss frown also to bend your knees and bow your head until someone pulls that rope until you’re dead. He performed many of his songs especially this one to showcase many of the thing slaves were facing on a day to day basis. Robeson wanted people to imagine and picture the lives of slaves and how they were treated so disturbingly throughout their lifetime. He wanted to make a change in people’s perspective, “ 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” (Robeson). He wanted to do nothing but replenish people’s minds on the everyday struggle of African Americans. Robeson wanted to carry the essential idea of being African, he was proud of his accomplishments and wanted those for many of the African American slaves as well. Performing these songs gave him a voice in many things. In one particular performance it was a risk for him to perform because of the hatred from many of the white people, the Peekskill Riots. The Peekskill Riots made a huge impact on Robeson and many whites who opposed him, “Anti-Communist members of local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion chapters also caused much of the violence. The angry mob of