Item COLD WAR 27/20 - Transcript of interview with Paul Robeson Jr, son of singer Paul Robeson, 1996

Typescript transcript of interview with Paul Robeson, Jr, son of the US singer and actor Paul (Bustill) Robeson, relating to the career and activities of his father including his immense popularity as a black American; his friendship with the US President Franklin D Roosevelt; his outspoken challenge to cultural racism in the US; his investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 1943; the defeat of the Progressive Party in the 1945 US election; his confrontation with US President Harry S Truman over the treatment of black Americans; the cancellation of his 1948 US tour due to FBI pressure; his tour of Europe and address to the World Congress of Partisans of Peace in Paris, France, 19 Apr 1949; visit to the Soviet Union and meeting with Jewish-Soviet poet Yitzhak Pfeffer; the final concert of his Soviet tour [1949]; threats to his life (1949); events at the Civil Rights Congress benefit concert at Peekskill, New York, cancelled due to rioting, 27 Aug 1949 and the rescheduled concert 3 Sep 1949, followed by rioting; the press reaction to the marriage of Paul Robeson Jr to a white woman, a the withdrawal of his passport, 1950, and restriction of freedom to travel; the impact of this on his performance career. 33pp