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Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee
Imagine an actor as familiar to audiences as Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman are today--who is then virtually deleted from public memory. Such is the story of Canada Lee. Among the most respected black actors of the forties and a tireless civil rights advocate, Lee was unjustly dishonored, his name reduced to a footnote in the history of the McCarthy era, his death one of a handful directly attributable to the blacklist.
Born in Harlem in 1907, Lee was a Renaissance man. A musical prodigy on violin and piano at eleven, by thirteen he had become a successful jockey and by his twenties a champion boxer. After wandering into auditions for the WPA Negro Theater Project, Lee took up acting and soon shot to stardom in Orson Welles's Broadway production of Native Son , later appearing in such classic films as Lifeboat and the original Cry, the Beloved Country . But Lee's meteoric rise to fame was followed by a devastating fall. Labeled a Communist by the FBI and HUAC as early as 1943, Lee was pilloried during the notorious spy trial of Judith Coplon in 1949, then condemned in longtime friend Ed Sullivan's column. He died in 1952, forty-five and penniless, a heartbroken casualty of a dangerous and conflicted time. Now, after nearly a decade of research, Mona Smith revives the legacy of a man who was perhaps the blacklist's most tragic victim.
Mona Z. Smith is a former reporter for The Miami Herald and an award-winning playwright. Imagine an actor as familiar to audiences as Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Morgan Freeman are today—who is then virtually deleted from cultural history. Such is the story of Canada Lee. Among the most respected black actors of the 1940s and a passionate civil rights activist, Lee was reduced to a footnote in the history of the McCarthy era, and his death was one of a handful directly attributed to the blacklist.
Born in Harlem in 1907, Lee was a Depression-era Renaissance man, reinventing himself numerous times during one of our country's darkest a musical prodigy on violin and piano, he made his concert debut at New York's prestigious Aeolian Hall at eleven; by thirteen he had become a successful jockey; in his teens, a pro boxer; and in his twenties, a leading contender for the national welterweight title, until an unlucky blow to the head cost him the sight in one eye and his fighting career. After wandering into auditions for the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit, Lee took up acting and shot to stardom in Orson Welles's Broadway production of Native Son . He later appeared in such films as Alfred Hitchcock's classic Lifeboat and the original Cry, the Beloved Country with a young Sidney Poitier.
But Lee's meteoric rise to fame was followed by a devastating fall from grace. Labeled a Communist by the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee as early as 1943, Lee was pilloried during the notorious spy trial of Judith Coplon in 1949, and his career was ultimately destroyed when his longtime friend Ed Sullivan denounced him in his nationally syndicated column. Lee died in 1952, forty-five and penniless, a heartbroken victim of a dangerous and conflicted time. Now, after nearly a decade of research, Mona Z. Smith revives the legacy of a man who was perhaps the blacklist's most tragic victim. "Armed with extensive research and huge files hoarded by [Lee's] widow, Smith has put together a richly detailed . . . narrative . . . Becoming Something does an important [service by making] possible much more discussion and reflection on a life that still has lessons to teach us."— Clyde Taylor, The Washington Post Book World "Armed with extensive research and huge files hoarded by [Lee's] widow, Smith has put together a richly detailed . . . narrative . . . Becoming Something does an important [service by making] possible much more discussion and reflection on a life that still has lessons to teach us."— Clyde Taylor, The Washington Post Book World
"Mona Z. Smith has used her considerable gifts as a dramatist and storyteller to illuminate the astonishing odyssey of Canada Lee, a man who challenged racism in every quarter, here and abroad, for thirty years, and usually prevailed. Here at last is a full-length portrait of this forgotten hero."— Daniel Mark Epstein, author of Lincoln and Whitman and Nat King Cole
"A biography of Canada Lee has been long overdue. The story of his dramatic rise and fall is as important as it is moving, and Mona Z. Smith tells it with theatrical flair. This is a first-rate book."— Hazel Rowley, author of Richard The Life and Times
"Smith, a former investigative reporter for the Miami Herald who wrote a play about Lee under the same title, completed years of research and interviews to support her premise that Lee was the victim of unjust accusations fueled by the political climate. She makes a convincing case in this groundbreaking biography, providing a thought-provoking example of the tragic impact of a nation's and an art form's pa...
Born in Harlem in 1907, Lee was a Renaissance man. A musical prodigy on violin and piano at eleven, by thirteen he had become a successful jockey and by his twenties a champion boxer. After wandering into auditions for the WPA Negro Theater Project, Lee took up acting and soon shot to stardom in Orson Welles's Broadway production of Native Son , later appearing in such classic films as Lifeboat and the original Cry, the Beloved Country . But Lee's meteoric rise to fame was followed by a devastating fall. Labeled a Communist by the FBI and HUAC as early as 1943, Lee was pilloried during the notorious spy trial of Judith Coplon in 1949, then condemned in longtime friend Ed Sullivan's column. He died in 1952, forty-five and penniless, a heartbroken casualty of a dangerous and conflicted time. Now, after nearly a decade of research, Mona Smith revives the legacy of a man who was perhaps the blacklist's most tragic victim.
Mona Z. Smith is a former reporter for The Miami Herald and an award-winning playwright. Imagine an actor as familiar to audiences as Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Morgan Freeman are today—who is then virtually deleted from cultural history. Such is the story of Canada Lee. Among the most respected black actors of the 1940s and a passionate civil rights activist, Lee was reduced to a footnote in the history of the McCarthy era, and his death was one of a handful directly attributed to the blacklist.
Born in Harlem in 1907, Lee was a Depression-era Renaissance man, reinventing himself numerous times during one of our country's darkest a musical prodigy on violin and piano, he made his concert debut at New York's prestigious Aeolian Hall at eleven; by thirteen he had become a successful jockey; in his teens, a pro boxer; and in his twenties, a leading contender for the national welterweight title, until an unlucky blow to the head cost him the sight in one eye and his fighting career. After wandering into auditions for the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit, Lee took up acting and shot to stardom in Orson Welles's Broadway production of Native Son . He later appeared in such films as Alfred Hitchcock's classic Lifeboat and the original Cry, the Beloved Country with a young Sidney Poitier.
But Lee's meteoric rise to fame was followed by a devastating fall from grace. Labeled a Communist by the FBI and the House Un-American Activities Committee as early as 1943, Lee was pilloried during the notorious spy trial of Judith Coplon in 1949, and his career was ultimately destroyed when his longtime friend Ed Sullivan denounced him in his nationally syndicated column. Lee died in 1952, forty-five and penniless, a heartbroken victim of a dangerous and conflicted time. Now, after nearly a decade of research, Mona Z. Smith revives the legacy of a man who was perhaps the blacklist's most tragic victim. "Armed with extensive research and huge files hoarded by [Lee's] widow, Smith has put together a richly detailed . . . narrative . . . Becoming Something does an important [service by making] possible much more discussion and reflection on a life that still has lessons to teach us."— Clyde Taylor, The Washington Post Book World "Armed with extensive research and huge files hoarded by [Lee's] widow, Smith has put together a richly detailed . . . narrative . . . Becoming Something does an important [service by making] possible much more discussion and reflection on a life that still has lessons to teach us."— Clyde Taylor, The Washington Post Book World
"Mona Z. Smith has used her considerable gifts as a dramatist and storyteller to illuminate the astonishing odyssey of Canada Lee, a man who challenged racism in every quarter, here and abroad, for thirty years, and usually prevailed. Here at last is a full-length portrait of this forgotten hero."— Daniel Mark Epstein, author of Lincoln and Whitman and Nat King Cole
"A biography of Canada Lee has been long overdue. The story of his dramatic rise and fall is as important as it is moving, and Mona Z. Smith tells it with theatrical flair. This is a first-rate book."— Hazel Rowley, author of Richard The Life and Times
"Smith, a former investigative reporter for the Miami Herald who wrote a play about Lee under the same title, completed years of research and interviews to support her premise that Lee was the victim of unjust accusations fueled by the political climate. She makes a convincing case in this groundbreaking biography, providing a thought-provoking example of the tragic impact of a nation's and an art form's pa...
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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August 14, 2008
It is supremely ironic that Lee Canegata, better known first to boxing audiences and later to movie and theatre connoisseurs as Canada Lee, strived all his life to become somebody only to become at the end of an extraordinary life little short of a nobody.This is the theme of Mona Z. Smith's biography 'Becoming Something,' the first comprehensive study of the life and the times of a neglected figure destroyed by the McCarthyite purges of the 1950s.
Lee was something of a renaissanceman, displaying talents first as a juvenile concert musician, and then as a horse racing jockey. Changing sport, he became a top contender for the national welterweight title, a quest which was put beyond him by way of a blinded eye. Finally, Lee reinvented himself as an actor, firstly as a thespian with the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit and then as a screen actor in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat and later in the seminal boxing movie directed by Abraham Polonsky; Body and Soul. But while his eventual vocation was obstensibly acting, it is his role as a left-wing activist suffused as it was with his uncompromising quest for racial justice, which Lee assumed as his life's calling.
Born in 1907, the son of an immigrant from the Virgin Islands, Lee grew up always on the verge of poverty but inured with a sense of wanting to achieve.. His father, though a respectable lower middle class clerk, had disinherited himself from his father's ship building business when he stowed away as a cabinboy to America and failed to return. Canada was aware of the history of high achievement in his family and one of his uncles would become a distinguished physician and legislator.
The music lessons Lee opted to take would involve him mastering the piano and violin and would lead him to a concert debut at New York's Aeolian Hall. Later in life, he would become a fairly adept jazz bandleader though not of the calibre of his idols Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington.
Lee took up boxing during the 1920s, a period dominated by Jack Dempsey but also tapestried by the ongoing race ban on blacks fighting for the heavyweight title. Part of his inspiration doubtlessly was the rise of Harry Wills as a contender for Dempsey's title -a quest which would ultimately meet with failure given the lack of willingness on the part of the relevant politicians, promoters and Dempsey himself to make the fight.
It is to a boxing announcer that the name Canada Lee is credited. Severely challenged by the Danish originated surname, Joe Humphries settled for 'Canada Lee' while introducing him as a young amateur. That he had talent is beyond dispute. Lee won AAU titles at all levels; graduating from Metropolitan to State, Inter-State,Junior National and finally to National Championships.
As a professional in the welterweights, he won many contests but lost to ex-champion Jack Britton by a decision. Twice he drew with Vince Dundee, brother of Joe Dundee, the world champion. But while Lee was undoubtedly an entertaining box office draw who earned $90,000 in his career, some, like Damon Runyon, later reflected that he was not the "Sugar Ray Robinson" of his day as once opined by a writer for Ring magazine. Lee himself felt that he had been denied some decisions, and a route to the championship when at his peak on account of his race. In 1929, a blow above his right ear delivered during a fight he won against Andy Divodi succeeded in detaching his retina and although he fought on and won a number of subsequent bouts, his career headed for a downward spiral. This included two losses against Lou Brouillard, who won the world title seven months after their second fight. Lee retired in 1934.
As an actor, Lee's achievements spanned theater work with Orson Welles, the lead on the Broadway production of Richard Wright's 'Native Son' , Shakespearean roles in 'The Tempest' and 'Othello'. He also became the first black producer to present a drama on Broadway in 'On Whitman Avenue.' Opportunities in film were much less but he managed to essentially re-write his lines and bring dignity to the only black character in Hitchcock's Lifeboat. He would also bring his boxing experiences to bear in his role as Ben Chaplin in Body and Soul. Chaplin is the brain injured ex-champion who is persuaded by a crooked promoter named Roberts to take on the rising star, Charlie Davis who is played by John Garfield. Desperate for money, Chaplin, who has a life threatening clot on his brain, accepts the fight on Roberts' assurance that Charlie will take it easy on him -a condition which was not relayed to Charlie. Chaplin and Davis forge a friendship and a business partnership afterwards with Chaplin training him onto title glory. But Chaplin struggles to keep Davis's moral values intact and it is only after Chaplin dies in a stuggle after confronting Roberts about a scheme which would have had Davis take a dive that Davis breaks out of his malaise to stand up to the corrupt promoter.
The movie would play its part in his eventual downfall. Screenwriter Robert Rossen, director Abraham Polonsky and actor Lloyd Gough were members of the Communist Party. Garfield, to many the prototype of the likes of Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando, was what could be described as a 'liberal activist;' somewhat of the same mould as Lee. The movie was 'progressive' in the sense that it hired a great many black actors as extras and bit players. Importantly, its unflattering portrayal of the boxing industry and its exploitative tendencies could easily be viewed as an indictment on the evils of capitalism. All persons involved in the movie would eventually fall foul of the impending McCarthyite purges and Garfield, like Lee, would meet an early death attributable to the coming storm.
To say that Canada Lee was a naive dabbler in politics who may have been duped or led astray by seasoned political activists would be way off the mark. He was much too independent minded to be anything other than his own man. He defiantly supported election candidates with Marxist leanings and refused to budge or tone down his invective about racial injustice. Rather, as was the case with Paul Robeson, he remained uncompromising about his convictions much to the cost of his career. Offers dried up and friends and acquaintances, fearful of the guilty-by-association mores of the times, shunned him.
What attracted Lee to far left politics? Like many African-Americans he would not have failed to notice that the left went further than white Liberals in the insistence on radical change in the legal, social and economic subjugation of blacks. Communist or communist associated groups for instance, had vociferously supported various anti-lynching campaigns and legal funds for black defendants such as the Scottsboro Boys. Further than issues of race, Lee was fully aware that his opportunity of escaping from a possible life of poverty as a disabled, ex-pug was facilitated by the socialist-style policies engendered by Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'New Deal.'
He had been affixed with the 'communist' tag as early as 1943 by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the House Un-American Activities Committee. However, with the United States and Soviet Union allied in the cause of defeating Nazi Germany, this did not bear the ominous implications of the post-war period and the consequent descent into external 'Cold War' and the internal 'Witch hunts'. His name came up in the notorious 1949 spy trial involving Judith Coplon which was the first to implicate an American spying for the Soviet Union. Lee's name was listed among other stars including Edward G. Robinson and Paul Robeson as being members of the Communist Party or Communist-front organisations. The coup de grace was delivered by Lee's denunciation by his longtime friend, Ed Sullivan in his nationally syndicated column.
Interestingly, Lee's marginalising did not follow the conventional route. His name did not appear in the pamphlet Red Channels. Neither was he put in the position of having to refuse to testify against 'named' persons before HUAC. Still, he was blacklisted. The stress brought about by his blacklisting proved fatal, Lee succumbing to the effects of hypertension on May 9th 1952. Wrote Ossie Davis, "Canada Lee couldn't find a job anywhere and died of a broken heart."
Although Smith's prose is described in Kirkus Review as being "pedestrian" and her approach to narrative as akin to "laundry listing", that is not enough to dull the power and the revelation of the story of this quite remarkable man.
Lee was something of a renaissanceman, displaying talents first as a juvenile concert musician, and then as a horse racing jockey. Changing sport, he became a top contender for the national welterweight title, a quest which was put beyond him by way of a blinded eye. Finally, Lee reinvented himself as an actor, firstly as a thespian with the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit and then as a screen actor in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat and later in the seminal boxing movie directed by Abraham Polonsky; Body and Soul. But while his eventual vocation was obstensibly acting, it is his role as a left-wing activist suffused as it was with his uncompromising quest for racial justice, which Lee assumed as his life's calling.
Born in 1907, the son of an immigrant from the Virgin Islands, Lee grew up always on the verge of poverty but inured with a sense of wanting to achieve.. His father, though a respectable lower middle class clerk, had disinherited himself from his father's ship building business when he stowed away as a cabinboy to America and failed to return. Canada was aware of the history of high achievement in his family and one of his uncles would become a distinguished physician and legislator.
The music lessons Lee opted to take would involve him mastering the piano and violin and would lead him to a concert debut at New York's Aeolian Hall. Later in life, he would become a fairly adept jazz bandleader though not of the calibre of his idols Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington.
Lee took up boxing during the 1920s, a period dominated by Jack Dempsey but also tapestried by the ongoing race ban on blacks fighting for the heavyweight title. Part of his inspiration doubtlessly was the rise of Harry Wills as a contender for Dempsey's title -a quest which would ultimately meet with failure given the lack of willingness on the part of the relevant politicians, promoters and Dempsey himself to make the fight.
It is to a boxing announcer that the name Canada Lee is credited. Severely challenged by the Danish originated surname, Joe Humphries settled for 'Canada Lee' while introducing him as a young amateur. That he had talent is beyond dispute. Lee won AAU titles at all levels; graduating from Metropolitan to State, Inter-State,Junior National and finally to National Championships.
As a professional in the welterweights, he won many contests but lost to ex-champion Jack Britton by a decision. Twice he drew with Vince Dundee, brother of Joe Dundee, the world champion. But while Lee was undoubtedly an entertaining box office draw who earned $90,000 in his career, some, like Damon Runyon, later reflected that he was not the "Sugar Ray Robinson" of his day as once opined by a writer for Ring magazine. Lee himself felt that he had been denied some decisions, and a route to the championship when at his peak on account of his race. In 1929, a blow above his right ear delivered during a fight he won against Andy Divodi succeeded in detaching his retina and although he fought on and won a number of subsequent bouts, his career headed for a downward spiral. This included two losses against Lou Brouillard, who won the world title seven months after their second fight. Lee retired in 1934.
As an actor, Lee's achievements spanned theater work with Orson Welles, the lead on the Broadway production of Richard Wright's 'Native Son' , Shakespearean roles in 'The Tempest' and 'Othello'. He also became the first black producer to present a drama on Broadway in 'On Whitman Avenue.' Opportunities in film were much less but he managed to essentially re-write his lines and bring dignity to the only black character in Hitchcock's Lifeboat. He would also bring his boxing experiences to bear in his role as Ben Chaplin in Body and Soul. Chaplin is the brain injured ex-champion who is persuaded by a crooked promoter named Roberts to take on the rising star, Charlie Davis who is played by John Garfield. Desperate for money, Chaplin, who has a life threatening clot on his brain, accepts the fight on Roberts' assurance that Charlie will take it easy on him -a condition which was not relayed to Charlie. Chaplin and Davis forge a friendship and a business partnership afterwards with Chaplin training him onto title glory. But Chaplin struggles to keep Davis's moral values intact and it is only after Chaplin dies in a stuggle after confronting Roberts about a scheme which would have had Davis take a dive that Davis breaks out of his malaise to stand up to the corrupt promoter.
The movie would play its part in his eventual downfall. Screenwriter Robert Rossen, director Abraham Polonsky and actor Lloyd Gough were members of the Communist Party. Garfield, to many the prototype of the likes of Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando, was what could be described as a 'liberal activist;' somewhat of the same mould as Lee. The movie was 'progressive' in the sense that it hired a great many black actors as extras and bit players. Importantly, its unflattering portrayal of the boxing industry and its exploitative tendencies could easily be viewed as an indictment on the evils of capitalism. All persons involved in the movie would eventually fall foul of the impending McCarthyite purges and Garfield, like Lee, would meet an early death attributable to the coming storm.
To say that Canada Lee was a naive dabbler in politics who may have been duped or led astray by seasoned political activists would be way off the mark. He was much too independent minded to be anything other than his own man. He defiantly supported election candidates with Marxist leanings and refused to budge or tone down his invective about racial injustice. Rather, as was the case with Paul Robeson, he remained uncompromising about his convictions much to the cost of his career. Offers dried up and friends and acquaintances, fearful of the guilty-by-association mores of the times, shunned him.
What attracted Lee to far left politics? Like many African-Americans he would not have failed to notice that the left went further than white Liberals in the insistence on radical change in the legal, social and economic subjugation of blacks. Communist or communist associated groups for instance, had vociferously supported various anti-lynching campaigns and legal funds for black defendants such as the Scottsboro Boys. Further than issues of race, Lee was fully aware that his opportunity of escaping from a possible life of poverty as a disabled, ex-pug was facilitated by the socialist-style policies engendered by Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'New Deal.'
He had been affixed with the 'communist' tag as early as 1943 by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the House Un-American Activities Committee. However, with the United States and Soviet Union allied in the cause of defeating Nazi Germany, this did not bear the ominous implications of the post-war period and the consequent descent into external 'Cold War' and the internal 'Witch hunts'. His name came up in the notorious 1949 spy trial involving Judith Coplon which was the first to implicate an American spying for the Soviet Union. Lee's name was listed among other stars including Edward G. Robinson and Paul Robeson as being members of the Communist Party or Communist-front organisations. The coup de grace was delivered by Lee's denunciation by his longtime friend, Ed Sullivan in his nationally syndicated column.
Interestingly, Lee's marginalising did not follow the conventional route. His name did not appear in the pamphlet Red Channels. Neither was he put in the position of having to refuse to testify against 'named' persons before HUAC. Still, he was blacklisted. The stress brought about by his blacklisting proved fatal, Lee succumbing to the effects of hypertension on May 9th 1952. Wrote Ossie Davis, "Canada Lee couldn't find a job anywhere and died of a broken heart."
Although Smith's prose is described in Kirkus Review as being "pedestrian" and her approach to narrative as akin to "laundry listing", that is not enough to dull the power and the revelation of the story of this quite remarkable man.
July 24, 2009
Just finished (7/2009) and found it to be astonishing that his life has been written out of history. He lives an amazingly colorful life with contemporaries such as Langston Hughes, P. Robeson, Marlon Brandon, Charlie Chaplin yet nearing his death he is demonized and attacked by the anti-communist agenda. A powerful testimony of unshakable character, struggle, morality, and quite unexpectedly the essence of love.
February 21, 2011
This is a must read. I found it more than releveant to my families experience in the boxing world.
June 8, 2018
An outstanding biography of the now mostly forgotten pioneering actor and irrepressible civil rights and social justice activist whose life and career was destroyed by blacklisting in the McCarthy era.
September 4, 2023
The first time I saw Canada Lee was in Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" and since then I haven't been able to forget him. He personified the perpetual outsider who sees things as they are, speaking volumes with his silences in spite of what is being said (or done) around him.
If you're not familiar with the plot, it centers on a group of shipwrecked survivors on a lifeboat after a bombing. The group's behavior slowly devolves into selfishness, insanity and violence, but Lee's character is the only one who remains steadfast and sane. He is also the only person of color on the boat, setting him apart in more ways than one. After seeing it, I had to find out more about him. Instead I found nothing. He only had a few film credits to his name. Internet searches didn't unearth much. It was even difficult to find pictures of him. Nevertheless I still thought about him and looked forward to a time where there would be more information.
Smith details why there's so little left of Lee in this biography, which painstakingly details his life from a low-class upbringing through a whirlwind of careers as a violinist, jockey, boxer, actor, producer and activist during his short life. His story ended in 1952 when he was 45 years old. Why? A quote from Donald Bogle explains it best: "When a black artist is successful and silent, he remains a national favorite. But when a black artist becomes important enough to want better roles... or when the artist makes some comment agains the social-political climate of the country, he becomes a doomed man."
Lee definitely suffered for his convictions and beliefs, mainly centered on promoting civil rights. His activities were deemed subversive enough for the HUAC to take an interest and label him a possible communist during the blacklist of the '50s. Like many others his career was dealt a devastating blow and never recovered. In the following decades the excitement, acclaim and notoriety surrounding him faded to nearly nothing. He was hardly a footnote in history.
Thanks to Smith, he has been resurrected, but I sincerely hope this book is just the beginning (even though it was published nearly 14 years ago). He should be a household name. One of his co-stars remembered him thusly: "He was the greatest black actor I ever saw- that includes James Earl Jones, Moses Gunn, Morgan Freeman, you name 'em." That's saying something.
TL:DR - Canada Lee is one of my heroes. The end.
If you're not familiar with the plot, it centers on a group of shipwrecked survivors on a lifeboat after a bombing. The group's behavior slowly devolves into selfishness, insanity and violence, but Lee's character is the only one who remains steadfast and sane. He is also the only person of color on the boat, setting him apart in more ways than one. After seeing it, I had to find out more about him. Instead I found nothing. He only had a few film credits to his name. Internet searches didn't unearth much. It was even difficult to find pictures of him. Nevertheless I still thought about him and looked forward to a time where there would be more information.
Smith details why there's so little left of Lee in this biography, which painstakingly details his life from a low-class upbringing through a whirlwind of careers as a violinist, jockey, boxer, actor, producer and activist during his short life. His story ended in 1952 when he was 45 years old. Why? A quote from Donald Bogle explains it best: "When a black artist is successful and silent, he remains a national favorite. But when a black artist becomes important enough to want better roles... or when the artist makes some comment agains the social-political climate of the country, he becomes a doomed man."
Lee definitely suffered for his convictions and beliefs, mainly centered on promoting civil rights. His activities were deemed subversive enough for the HUAC to take an interest and label him a possible communist during the blacklist of the '50s. Like many others his career was dealt a devastating blow and never recovered. In the following decades the excitement, acclaim and notoriety surrounding him faded to nearly nothing. He was hardly a footnote in history.
Thanks to Smith, he has been resurrected, but I sincerely hope this book is just the beginning (even though it was published nearly 14 years ago). He should be a household name. One of his co-stars remembered him thusly: "He was the greatest black actor I ever saw- that includes James Earl Jones, Moses Gunn, Morgan Freeman, you name 'em." That's saying something.
TL:DR - Canada Lee is one of my heroes. The end.
September 6, 2008
david heard a segment on npr about him and bought the book. interesting life.
February 3, 2011
This is a must read. I found it more than releveant to my families experience in the boxing world.
July 30, 2015
One of my favorites. If you think you know something of history you need to read this then think again.
Wonderful write that I will read again.
Wonderful write that I will read again.
September 15, 2013
..interesting; an important book. Exposes gossip and slander as signs of weakness, malice, evil, fear...ignorance.
May 24, 2016
Canada Lee was an imperfect man, as we all are, but he tried to do right. He will not be forgotten.
June 28, 2024
Leonard Lionel Cornelius Canegata---aka Canada Lee---a human for all seasons. Shame on the United States for driving this man to an early grave with its 1950's Communist-blacklist inquisitions. It saddened and angered me to no end that Lee and dozens of other artists were jailed, hounded and denied to make a living over fear. This story should be a film.
October 10, 2023
The story of Canada Lee ( a young black man) and how he made something of himself after failing and many different things.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews