"We have to learn the hard way that there is another way to sing"
The Modern Records Centre at University of Warwick (in Coventry) is currently hosting an exhibition to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Paul Robeson's performance as Othello at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford on Avon.
Fifty years ago, after a long struggle, the great actor, singer and human rights activist Paul Robeson played Othello at Stratford on Avon.
In 1950 Robeson's passport was withdrawn on the grounds that his right to travel was against American interests. Robeson would challenge this ban in the courts for eight years; meanwhile a campaign on his behalf was spearheaded in Britain by trades unions, artists and the Left.
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In 1957, unable to accept countless invitations to perform abroad, Paul Robeson sang for audiences in London and Wales via the transatlantic telephone cable: "We have to learn the hard way that there is another way to sing".
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