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PEOPLE IN AMERICA - Paul Robeson Pt. 1
By Shelley Gollust
Broadcast: Sunday, January 04, 2004
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with the V-O-A Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about Paul Robeson [ROBE a son]. He was a singer, actor, and civil rights activist1. In the Nineteen-Thirties, he was one of the best known and most widely honored black Americans. Later in his life he was condemned2 for supporting communism and the Soviet3 Union.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey4 in Eighteen-Ninety-Eight. His father was a former slave who became the religious leader of a Protestant church. Paul was an excellent student and athlete. Rutgers University in New Jersey gave him money so he could study there. He played four different sports while at Rutgers. He also was the top student in his class. Members of his class believed Paul Robeson would become the leader of black people in America.
Paul Robeson graduated from Rutgers in Nineteen-Nineteen. He attended law school at Columbia University in New York City. He was only the third black person to attend Columbia Law School. On the weekends, he earned money by playing professional football. He also acted in plays. He married Eslanda Cordoza Goode while he was in law school. After he graduated in Nineteen-Twenty-Three, he got a job with a group of lawyers in New York. However, he left when he experienced unfair treatment because he was black. He decided6 not to work as a lawyer. Instead, he wanted to use his ability in theater and music to support African-American history and culture.
VOICE ONE:
Robeson became a professional actor. He joined the Provincetown Players, an acting7 group linked to American playwright8 Eugene O'Neill. Robeson was the star in two famous productions by Eugene O'Neill in the Nineteen-Twenties. They were "All God's Chillun Got Wings" and "The Emperor Jones." Critics praised his performances. Robeson became the most recognized black actor of his time.
VOICE TWO:
In London, he earned international praise for his leading part in William Shakespeare's great tragic9 play, "Othello." That was in Nineteen-Thirty. Thirteen years later, he played "Othello" on Broadway in New York. It was very popular. In "Othello," Robeson played an African general in ancient Venice. He is married to a young white woman. Othello kills his wife after being tricked into believing that she loves someone else. This is how Paul Robeson sounded in "Othello."
(MUSIC: "MONOLOGUE10 FROM "OTHELLO")
VOICE ONE: Paul Robeson also was famous for appearing in the popular American musical play "Show Boat." He performed the play in London in Nineteen-Twenty-Eight and on Broadway four years later. He played a riverboat worker. Jerome Kern wrote the music for "Show Boat." Paul Robeson sang the song "Ol' Man River."
(MUSIC: "OL' MAN RIVER")
VOICE TWO:
Graphic Image
Paul Robeson appeared in eleven movies in the Nineteen-Twenties and Nineteen-Thirties. However, he realized that his acting was limited by the small number of parts for black actors. He criticized the American movie industry for not showing the real lives of black people in America. He stopped making movies and decided to sing professionally instead.
Robeson sang many kinds of music. He sang folk music from many countries. He sang songs to support the labor11 and social movements of his time. He sang songs for peace and justice. And, he sang African-American spiritual music. One of his famous songs was this spiritual, "Balm in Gilead."
(MUSIC:"BALM IN GILEAD")
VOICE ONE:
Paul Robeson was recognized around the world for his fight for civil rights for black Americans. Separation of black people and white people was legal in the United States. Black people did not have the same rights as white people. They were not treated equally. For example, Robeson could not be served in some eating places in the United States. Violence against black people was common. Angry mobs12 of whites sometimes killed black people, especially in the southern United States.
VOICE TWO:
In the late Nineteen-Thirties, Paul Robeson became involved in national and international movements that sought peace and better labor conditions. He also supported independence for African colonies from their European rulers. He learned the languages and folk songs of other cultures. He said these folk songs expressed the same feelings that were in African-American music. He learned to speak, write and sing in more than twenty languages.
VOICE ONE:
Robeson traveled a great deal in Europe during the Nineteen-Thirties. He found that black people were treated better in Europe than in the United States. He met members of liberal political organizations, socialists13 and African nationalists. He also met many working people and poor people.
For many years, he performed in concerts in many countries. The songs he sang supported the struggle for racial justice for black Americans, and for civil rights and economic justice for people around the world. He refused to perform at concerts where the people were separated by race. He said, "The idea of my concerts is to suggest that all men are brothers because of their music."
VOICE TWO:
In Nineteen-Thirty-Four, Paul Robeson made the first of many trips to the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, he said, he was treated as an equal of whites for the first time in his life. He declared his friendship for the Soviet Union. And he spoke14 about the need for peaceful co-existence between the United States and the Soviet Union. Conservative15 groups in the United States strongly opposed his friendship with the Soviet Union and his support for other liberal issues.
VOICE ONE:
Paul Robeson went to Spain in Nineteen-Thirty-Eight during the Spanish Civil War. He sang for Spanish civilians16. And he sang for the Loyalist forces fighting for the Spanish republic. One of the songs he sang was this Spanish Loyalist song, "The Four Insurgent17 Generals."
(MUSIC: "THE FOUR INSURGENT GENERALS")
VOICE TWO:
In the Nineteen-Forties, many people in the United States were strongly opposed to Paul Robeson's political beliefs. They said he was too liberal or extreme. Next week, we will tell you about how opposition18 to his political beliefs affected19 the last part of his life.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This PEOPLE IN AMERICA program was written by Shelley Gollust and produced by Lawan Davis.
1 activist | |
n.活动分子,积极分子 | |
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2 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3 Soviet | |
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃 | |
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4 jersey | |
n.运动衫 | |
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5 graphic | |
adj.生动的,形象的,绘画的,文字的,图表的 | |
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6 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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7 acting | |
n.演戏,行为,假装;adj.代理的,临时的,演出用的 | |
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8 playwright | |
n.剧作家,编写剧本的人 | |
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9 tragic | |
adj.悲剧的,悲剧性的,悲惨的 | |
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10 monologue | |
n.长篇大论,(戏剧等中的)独白 | |
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11 labor | |
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦 | |
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12 mobs | |
v.聚众包围( mob的第三人称单数 );聚众闹事 | |
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13 socialists | |
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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14 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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15 conservative | |
adj.保守的,守旧的;n.保守的人,保守派 | |
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16 civilians | |
平民,百姓( civilian的名词复数 ); 老百姓 | |
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17 insurgent | |
adj.叛乱的,起事的;n.叛乱分子 | |
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18 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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19 affected | |
adj.不自然的,假装的 | |
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