The most dangerous man in America': how Paul Robeson went from Hollywood to blacklist

"The legendary bass-baritone spent the first half of the 20th century as one of the greatest talents the US had ever produced, and its second, both in life and in death as an outcast, the greatest casualty of the second Red Scare period to which today's current attacks on liberal and progressive politics draw comparison. This week marks 50 years since Robeson's death and the silence remains."

"His talent was prodigious. Robeson integrated Broadway in 1943, the first Black man to play Othello in the United States. Previous productions of Shakespeare's jealous Moor casted white actors in blackface, and Robeson's Othello run of 296 performances remains a Broadway record for a Shakespeare production. A two-time All-American at Rutgers, he was one of the greatest college football players in history."

Paul Robeson was a world-renowned bass-baritone, actor, athlete, and lawyer whose career spanned Broadway, film, concert stages, and professional football. He integrated Broadway in 1943 as the first Black man to play Othello in the United States, with a run of 296 performances that remains a record for a Shakespeare production. He was a two-time All-American at Rutgers, graduated from Columbia Law, and played in the NFL. At his peak he was the most famous Black American and influenced generations of Black performers. Cold War pressures and refusal to denounce the Soviet Union produced isolation, blacklisting, and long-term cultural erasure; many younger Black Americans remain unaware of him decades after his death.

Read at www.theguardian.com