IT was 64 years ago that as a young journalist I joined about 50,000 people at the Kingston Race Course (now National Heroes Park) to hear Paul Robeson, the celebrated Black American singer and international civil rights activist, perform and speak. It was a time when “coloured” people, as Black Americans were then called, suffered the indignity of race prejudice, segregation and lynching of body and mind. But that did not stop Robeson, perhaps the most fearless fighter at that time, against the scourges of the black people in the USA.

For 10 years he was persecuted and his passport seized by the US authorities. He was tagged un-American and communist in the witch-hunting exercises that darkened the 50s and 60s in the USA. After his passport was returned, he travelled to Russia and other European countries where he developed his talent in many fields and became an activist against injustice in the world.

However, let his granddaughter, Susan Robeson, finish the Paul Robeson story:

“When my grandfather was here in 1948, Jamaica was a balm for him,a respite from the apartheid-like state that was America where segregation was still legal. The dignity and pride of the Jamaican people fortified Paul and inspired him to say, ‘I feel now as if I have drawn my first breath of fresh air in many years; and if I never hear another kind word again, what I received from my people in the West Indies will be enough for me.’ When 50,000 Jamaicans jammed the race track here in Kingston to hear Paul sing and speak, they embraced him as a man of the people who was fighting for their freedom too.

“My grandfather was a citizen of the world when major celebrity artistes did not dare speak about injustice in the world. And in America, they certainly did not challenge their government to end segregation or champion the needs of working people. Paul did: he actively campaigned for unions and walked picket lines with striking workers; he led civil rights demonstrations decades before Martin Luther King, Jr. He supported independence for colonial people in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa when much of the world was still colonised. He spoke out for world peace and against nuclear weapons.

“But there was a price to pay. At the height of his career, during the anti-communist hysteria of the late 1940s and l950s, Paul was singled out as un-American. He was prevented from singing and speaking and recording.

“His passport was revoked. Allowing Paul to travel the world and speak his mind was considered against the best interests of the United States because he was an advocate for colonial independence. My grandfather’s career came to a standstill for almost a decade. When the Supreme Court finally ruled in his favour in 1958 and returned the passport after 10 years, he was able to travel, record and perform in major venues again. Through it all he always had a choice: he could denounce his beliefs and have his career back.

“I would like to share the greatest gift my grandfather gave me. It has nothing to do with money or anything material. It is this: how to live according to a set of personal principles and values… and I have the courage to stick to these principles; no matter the sacrifice or price you have to pay. This gives me a yardstick – a set of standards – to guide me in making choices and decisions.

“What was Paul’s code? What were the values and principles he lived according to?

There were five basic principles that guided his life:

* Strive for excellence. Be the best you can possibly be through hard work and discipline. Aim for perfection instead of just being as good as, or better than someone else.

* Success without benefiting those less fortunate than you or without advancing the interests of our people as a whole, is worthless. This is the spirit of altruism.

* The pursuit of knowledge is a quest that never ends.

* Have the courage of your convictions. Be willing to make sacrifices to do the right thing.

* When life gets tough, step into it – not away from it.”

Susan Robeson was speaking at the dedication of the Paul Robeson Information Resource Centre (IRC) at the US Embassy in Jamaica on January 23. High commendations are due to the American Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater for having the courage to establish the centre, and Myrna Lewis, director, for the work she did to establish the institution.

Susan Robeson is chair, Paul Robeson Foundation. A documentary on Robeson’s life was shown, a plaque unveiled in his honour by Damion Crawford, state minister in the ministry of tourism and entertainment, and Susan; and the reading of the winnning essay in the competition, “Name the IRC”, by the author, Kathy Smith of Manchester High School.

As I sat there and reflected on the remarkable progress made by Black Americans since the first of my three tours to the USA in 1960, sponsored by the State Department, I could not but think that none of this would be possible without Black leaders like Paul Robeson and Martin Luther King, Jr; revolutionaries, including Angela Davis and Stokely Carmichael, who has West Indian connections; and the determination and perseverance of Rosa Parks who challenged segregation on public transportation. Of course, those white Americans who joined in the struggle for equality and justice should not be forgotten.