Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson gave a concert in Huddersfield, must have been about 1958 – I was in the audience. I was about 8, and my little brother was very small. He started crying, and my mother got up to take him out of the auditorium, leaving my two elder sisters and me with our father. “Don’t take the little feller away,” said Robeson, and sang a lullaby – and miraculously my little brother stopped crying.

©2020 Clive K Semmens

 

And a favourite quote from Robeson: Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no fascists-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?