Paul Robeson: Acclaimed singer and radical and his scandalous affair with a Croydon actress

Croydon has a way of appearing in some of the most important moments in history.

The South London borough was featured in historical texts including the 1086 Domesday Book, it was visited by Henry VIII and became the resting place for several Archbishops of Canterbury.

So it comes as no surprise that Croydon was home to Davis Theatre – England’s largest theatre in the early 1900s with a capacity of more than 4,000. Or that in March 1949, one of America’s most acclaimed singers visited Croydon to perform at Davis Theatre as part of his four month tour of Britain.

Paul Robeson was a tall, sharp and radical man with one of the most beautiful voices of the 20th century.

He could sing in more than 20 different languages, was an acclaimed stage actor and was widely known as one of the best American footballers of his generation.

But he was also a political activist, a dedicated socialist, and in the context of the Cold War, a highly controversial figure who posed a threat to America and the West.

Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey on April 9, 1898, into an America divided by enforced segregation under Jim Crow laws.

In 1915 when Robeson won a scholarship to Rutgers University, he was the only black student. Looking towards a legal career, Robeson graduated from Columbia Law School in 1923. 

Despite his qualifications he was stifled by the institutionalised racism within the American legal system.

Already well known for his singing and acting skills he fell back on his secondary dream of a career in the performing arts.

He came to London with his wife Eslanda – known as Essie – in the 1920s, in part to escape from the conditions for a black man in the US. But he would later insist that his political career was motivated equally by the racism he experienced in Britain.

In 1928, Robeson played “Joe” in the London production of the American musical Show Boat, at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane. His rendition of “Ol’ Man River” became the benchmark for all future performers of the song.

He then took on the role as Othello at the Savoy Theatre, in London’s West End. Robeson was the first black actor to play Othello in Britain since Ira Aldridge.

Playing Desdemona to Robeson’s Othello was a Croydon actress, Peggy Ashcroft. Ashcroft and Robeson would have a secret affair that lasted more than a year and eventually see the breakdown of his marriage with Essie.

But the extra-marital relationship was not the only reason for the pair’s secrecy. Inter-racial relationships were vilified in Britain at the time.

In America, 30 out of 48 states enforced laws against inter-racial sex, in some a black man could be lynched for it.

After reportedly being warned of the public scandal that would be associated with divorcing his wife to marry a white woman, Robeson and Essie reconciled.

He took up part-time studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London in early 1934, majoring in Swahili. 

The rise of the far-right threat as the Second World War approached further politicised Robeson. He marched with unemployed miners and gave his concert fees to provide support for destitute working families.

In 1934 he was invited to Moscow by Sergei Eisenstein. Robeson was impressed by Russia. 

After arriving he reportedly said: “In Russia, for the first time, I felt like a full human being. No colour prejudice like in Mississippi; no colour prejudice like in Washington.”

The brutal experiences of discrimination Robeson had survived caused a tragic oversight of the reality of Stalin’s brutal regime.

In 1937, Robeson co-founded the Council of African Affairs and played an active role as chair. Its main objective was anti-colonialist and to support struggles for national liberation. In 1944, it drafted a programme for Africa’s postwar liberation and advancement.

Robeson moved back to America in 1940, by now he was recognised as a political figure and received an invitation to meet President Harry Truman in 1946.

The meeting came after the Moore’s Ford lynchings of four African Americans in Georgia that July.

Robeson reportedly told Presidnt Truman, if the federal government refused to defend its black citizens against lynchings, black people would have to defend themselves. 

Robeson’s vocal support of the Stalin’s regime and devout socialism blacklisted him as America became increasingly paranoid about the left throughout the Cold War.

In 1950, the US Government took away Robeson’s passport and at the peak of the McCarthyism witch-hunts, in 1956, Robeson appeared before the House of American Activities Committee and was questioned on his relationship with Russia.

Robeson would eventually have his passport returned in 1958 following a Supreme Court hearing which ruled 5-4 in his favour. 

But his tour of Britain in 1960 would be his last and he died in 1975. His body lay in state in Harlem.

Pictured top: Paul Robeson (Picture:Wikimedia Commons)