Google Maps: Paul Robeson And Count Basie

In addition to Robeson and Basie other notables lived at 555 Edgecombe:
Lena Horne - Singer and actress
Coleman Hawkins - Musician, saxophone player
Johnnie Hodges - Musician, saxophone player
Joe Louis - Boxer
Canada Lee - Actor
Duke Ellington - Composer, band leader

Harriet Tubman Escapes

Part 2 in the Bentley Boyd comic series on Harriet Tubman. Here she crosses the river from Maryland to freedom in Pennsylvania The online archives are here
The book collections are well worth the price. I've gotten several. Here's the link to amazon.
It's tough coming up with soundtracks. Here I used Old Man river song by Paul Robeson

There's an old man called the Mississippi
That's the old man that I'd like to be
What does he care if the world has troubles
What does he care if the land ain't free
Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river
He mus'know sumpin'
But don't say nuthin',
He jes'keeps rollin'
He keeps on rollin' along.
He don' plant taters/tators,
He don't plant cotton,
An' dem dat plants'em
is soon forgotten,
But ol'man river,
He jes keeps rollin'along.
You an'me, we sweat an' strain,
Body all achin' an' racket wid pain,
Tote dat barge!
Lif' dat bale!
Git a little drunk
An' you land in jail.
Ah gits weary
An' sick of tryin'
Ah'm tired of livin'
An' skeered of dyin',
But ol' man river,
He jes'keeps rolling' along.

From Slave Ship to Freedom Road

I used Paul Robeson's version of "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen" as a soundtrack.
I realize the text is difficult to view. These are just the first few pages. It's a beautiful book.

Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen
Nobody knows my sorrow
Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen
Glory Hallelujah
Sometimes I'm up and sometimes I'm down
Oh Yes lord,
Sometimes I'm almost to the ground
O yes, Lord,
Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen
Nobody knows my sorrow
Nobody knows the trouble that I've seen
Glory Hallelujah

From Slave Ship to Freedom Road (Hardcover)
by Julius Lester (Author), Rod Brown (Author) "They took the sick and the dead and dropped them into the sea like empty wine barrels..." (more)
Slavery is a difficult concept to address with children, especially because many adults would prefer to forget that period of American history. In From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, award-winning author Julius Lester takes older children (and adults) on an intense, personal journey through the slave experience. As he gently explains the factual horrors of slave-ship conditions, auction blocks, plantation life, and the risks associated with escape, Lester consistently prods young readers with probing questions: "How would I feel if that happened to me?" "Would you risk going to jail to help someone you didn't know?" "You are free, but are you?" Lester also asks us to imagine the voices and feelings of the African Americans in the illustrations--another brilliant call for active participation.
Rod Brown's paintings are achingly vivid, so much so that a few may be too powerful for younger children. Certain depictions are difficult even for adults to bear: a lynched man with the bloody blows of a whip marking his back; slaves stacked seven-high in the hold of a ship, packed onto shelves with less room than the drawers of a morgue; and black bodies bobbing in the ocean. These are horrible images, but nonetheless historically accurate and important to remember. Brown took seven years to create these startling images, and his careful attention is reflected in the paintings' power and emotion. Children may be initially startled by From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, but they will also be engaged and enlightened. (Ages 10 to 13

Harriet Tubman's Dizzy Spells

Part of a series of comics from a great collection from Bentley Boyd that was originally done for Virginia school districts. The online archives are here
The book collections are well worth the price. I've gotten several. Here's the link to amazon.
Soundtrack, Swing Low Sweet Chariot song by Paul Robeson

Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.
I looked over Jordan,
And WHAT did I see,
Comin' for to carry me home,
A band of angels comin' after me,
Comin' for to carry me home.
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home;
Swing low, sweet chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home.
If you get there before I do,
Comin' for to carry me home,
Tell all my friends I'm comin' too,
Comin' for to carry me home.

Paul Robeson Jr.

from his talk at the Museum of the City Of New York on 4/10/07(images supplemented): Paul Robeson Jr. shares the story of his father singing to the Republican troops behind enemy lines and causing a temporary halt in the fighting. The Black Moorish mercenary troops fighting for Franco were mesmerized by the vision of a Black American with such public stature. Through his radio broadcasts from Madrid Paul would be known as "Our Pablo" to both sides in the struggle

No Pasaran

from 9/27/07 from pseudo-intellectualism
Burns has been criticized for taking a strictly domestic view of a World War. Even if he didn't I doubt he would have the chutzpah to include the story of the Lincoln Brigade. Here's what I blogged previously and moved here, where it sort of belongs theme wise. I love the song which I struggled mightily to "karaoke." I actually met Paul Robeson Jr. and gave him a disc copy.
There is a new Lincoln Brigade exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York and a new book out about the Brigade
"No men ever entered the earth more honorably than those who died in Spain," wrote Ernest Hemingway in 1939. Between the years of 1936-1939, an estimated 1,000 Americans, many from New York, died fighting to protect the elected government of the Spanish Republic against a rebellion led by General Francisco Franco and backed by Hitler and Mussolini. Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War examines the role that New Yorkers played in the conflict, as well as the political and social ideologies that motivated them to participate in activities ranging from rallying support, fundraising, and relief aid, to fighting--and sometimes dying--on the front lines in Spain. The stories of these New Yorkers will be told through photographs, letters, uniforms, weapons, and an array of personal and historical memorabilia.

the soundtrack, by John McCutcheon
From the farms, from the cities, from every land
Came the Abe Lincoln Brigade
With a dream in their hearts, with a gun in their hands
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
No pasaran, no pasaran
So sang the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Across the years and the oceans
We still sing the song
Of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
Cries from the cities, shouts from the hills
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
The fire in the hearts that is warming us still
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
No pasaran, no pasaran
So sang the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Across the years and the oceans
We still sing the song
Of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
All the teachers, the artists
The workers who died
Oh the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Their stories still thrill me
We work side by side
With the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
No pasaran, no pasaran
So sang the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Across the years and the oceans
We still sing the song
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
So raise glasses and voices
Give them a toast
Of the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Those who die best are the ones who live most
Like the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
No pasaran, no pasaran
So sang the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Across the years and the oceans
We still sing the song
Of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
No pasaran, no pasaran
So sang the the Abe Lincoln Brigade
Across the years and the oceans
We still sing the song
Of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Paul Robeson: The Tallest Tree In The Forest

from 4/11/07 from pseudo-intellectualism I got to see and hear one of the country's most brilliant political thinkers last night, Paul Robeson Jr. He spoke at the Museum Of The City Of New York as part of the Fighting Fascism exhibit series. (The exhibit is terrific) A blurb from his latest book which I bought while there.

"For more than 20 years, Robeson was "close aide and personal representative" to his father, actor and activist Paul Robeson Sr. Robeson's latest book, following Paul Robeson Jr. Speaks to America: The Politics of Multiculturalism and The Undiscovered Paul Robeson, An Artist's Journey, continues the elder Robeson's tradition of speaking out thoughtfully and frankly, and sketches a vision of American history where Black Americans, from slavery forward, have been forced to live a "separate reality" from white Americans. He begins with the race implications of 9/11, where he finds hurtful spin by Giuliani ("The Mayor's implied message was clear: We have a lily-white fire department, and we're going to keep it that way"), and moves on to "Eight Coups in American History" ("George Bush's mission in the White House is to establish nationwide a modern version of the old Confederacy based on the New South"), an account of the War on Terror and of voter fraud in the last two presidential elections, and a program for Black Americans to support the Progressive party along class lines."

Paul has the CD of the Lincoln Brigade slide show that I made next to him.