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Paul Robeson: Artist and Citizen
This work presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of Paul Robeson (1898-1976), the All-American football player, Phi Beta Kappa Rutgers College graduate, who became a world-renowned actor, singer and motion picture star, and America's first African American politically-engaged performing artist. Coming to maturity during the Harlem Renaissance, Robeson starred in Eugene O'Neill's plays, sang spirituals in concert houses throughout Europe, headlined three productions of Othello, and created enduring roles in such movies as "The Emperor Jones" (1933), "Song of Freedom" (1936) and "The Proud Valley" (1940). But Robeson was also an African American who reacted against negative representations of blacks in his films "Sanders of the River" (1935) and "Tales of Manhattan" (1942) by criticizing racism in the media and ultimately refusing to make more films. A robust political intellectual, Robeson shaped the Leftist critique of fascism, championed the rights of workers and oppressed minorities on his travels around the world, and became one of America's most outspoken critics of racism after World War II. During the Cold War his steadfast defense of the Soviet Union was seized upon by the media, the United States government and McCarthyites, unfortunately tarnishing his name and achievements. This collection of essays by some of America's most respected scholars and intellectuals - published on the centenary of his birth - is designed to remind contemporary Americans of Robeson's accomplishments and provide a fresh assessment of his contributions.
331 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
39 people want to read
About the author
Jeffrey C. Stewart
17 books30 followersJeffrey C. Stewart is a professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jeffrey C. Stewart is a graduate of Yale University, where he received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in American Studies. He was Director of Research at the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and a senior advisor to the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore, Maryland. The author of numerous articles, essays and books, Dr. Stewart has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, UCLA, Tufts University, Howard University, Scripps College, and George Mason University before coming to the University of California at Santa Barbara as Professor and Chair of the Department of Black Studies from 2008-2016. During his tenure as chair, he launched an international three day conference, "1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change," that brought more than 40 activists, scholars, and artists to campus to discuss the activist, critical, aesthetic, and educational implications of 1968 http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/1968/; an outdoor exhibit called the North Hall Display to commemorate the events of 1968 takeover of North Hall that transformed the UCSB curriculum and campus climate; and Jeffrey's Jazz Coffeehouse, a pop-up jazz club situated in a local eatery to reconfigure space with jazz aesthetics--now occurring at Aladdin in Isla Vista. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?....
Stewart's most recent publication is “Beyond Category: Before Afro-Futurism there was Norman Lewis,” in Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, November 2015), an exhibition catalogue that won the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Award of the College Art Association http://www.collegeart.org/news/2017/0....
Jeffrey C. Stewart is a graduate of Yale University, where he received his M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in American Studies. He was Director of Research at the Smithsonian Institution's Anacostia Museum, a curator at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery, and a senior advisor to the Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore, Maryland. The author of numerous articles, essays and books, Dr. Stewart has taught at Harvard University, Yale University, UCLA, Tufts University, Howard University, Scripps College, and George Mason University before coming to the University of California at Santa Barbara as Professor and Chair of the Department of Black Studies from 2008-2016. During his tenure as chair, he launched an international three day conference, "1968: A Global Year of Student Driven Change," that brought more than 40 activists, scholars, and artists to campus to discuss the activist, critical, aesthetic, and educational implications of 1968 http://www.blackstudies.ucsb.edu/1968/; an outdoor exhibit called the North Hall Display to commemorate the events of 1968 takeover of North Hall that transformed the UCSB curriculum and campus climate; and Jeffrey's Jazz Coffeehouse, a pop-up jazz club situated in a local eatery to reconfigure space with jazz aesthetics--now occurring at Aladdin in Isla Vista. https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?....
Stewart's most recent publication is “Beyond Category: Before Afro-Futurism there was Norman Lewis,” in Procession: The Art of Norman Lewis (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, November 2015), an exhibition catalogue that won the 2017 Alfred H. Barr Award of the College Art Association http://www.collegeart.org/news/2017/0....
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