[quadrant]

Paul Robeson was a talented but foolish and in many ways a tragic man. There is no doubt that he was an extraordinary singer, actor, and athlete, but his political judgment was weak, and, perhaps, a captive to his vanity.
He lacked the judgment to see that the flaws in the American system were amenable to correction by legislation and judicial decision, but could not or would not understand that the flaws in the Communist system were inherent and could never be corrected.
The question remains: why did other blacks who faced trials similar to Robeson's keep faith with America while he surrendered his to a political system that ended up on the ash heap of history?

[68skylark]

Paul Robeson was a talented but foolish and in many ways a tragic man.

I really like your whole comment. While I detest Robeson's communist sympathies, I agree he was very talented in many ways.

To me it seems inappropriate for the U. S. to issue a stamp to honor a communist. But on the other hand we've had stamps (and coins, and paper currency) that honor plenty of men who have lots of good AND lots of bad in their background.

With the passage of time maybe we can forgive communist membership in the same way that we can more or less forgive slave ownership among many of the founding fathers who made this conuntry free.

Personally I'd prefer that we wait another hundred years before we start looking at communist membership they way we look at slave ownership now -- as something that's a regretable but more or less understandable product of the time in which he lived.

[AmishDude]

The little I've read about Robeson leads me to the conclusion that he's a classic manic-depressive. The smallest of slights leads him to prejudice entire systems and peoples. The slightest praise earns his enternal loyalty.

[NYCVirago]

Paul Robeson was a talented but foolish and in many ways a tragic man. There is no doubt that he was an extraordinary singer, actor, and athlete, but his political judgment was weak, and, perhaps, a captive to his vanity.

Good post. Paul Robeson was a real modern-day "Renaissance Man" -- skilled in athletics, academics, and the arts. Too bad he was a communist.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

There is no doubt that he was an extraordinary singer, actor, and athlete, but his political judgment was weak, and, perhaps, a captive to his vanity.

Perhaps his political judgment was a captive to the racism of the times.

He lacked the judgment to see that the flaws in the American system were amenable to correction by legislation and judicial decision

Perhaps he was too impatient to wait around for that to happen.

The question remains: why did other blacks who faced trials similar to Robeson's keep faith with America while he surrendered his to a political system that ended up on the ash heap of history?

Again, perhaps it was his impatience. From his perspective, Russia treated him well. Any system that treated him well and wasn't racist, earned his respect.