This article appeared in the April 15, 2004 Jewish Advocate.

Cambridge scholar presents multimedia evening on Paul Robeson

By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

A recent US postage stamp was issued for All-American football star, Phi Beta Kappa scholar and political activist Paul Robeson. Robeson, who was born the son of an escaped slave, graduated at the top of his Rutgers class of 1919 as the only black at the time of his admission, staged an unparalleled portrayal of Othello, produced Grammy-winning music which included film selections from "The Emperor Jones," "King Solomon's Mines," and "Showboat," starred in All-American and professional football from 1917-1922, and was labeled a Communist by the FBI for speaking publicly against lynchings and other forms of racism. Yet, with his spirit and health broken, he died virtually unknown and forgotten in Philadelphia in January, 1976, after living in seclusion for ten years.

In a multi-media presentation, journalist and professor Noha Applebaum will present “Paul Robeson: Mystery, Marvel, Model” this Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Inman Square, Cambridge (across from the S&S Deli).

Robeson’s Jewish connections were profound, according to Applebaum. “He learned to write not only in English, Greek, and Latin, but in Hebrew,” he noted. “He spoke and performed in more than a dozen languages, and included in his concert repertoire songs in Hebrew (a Chasidic Chant) and Yiddish (song of the Warsaw Ghetto resistance).” Robeson’s wife, Eslanda Cardozo Goode, was the great-granddaughter of Isaac Nunez Cardozo, a Sephardic Jew prominent in South Carolina. “Paul Robeson repeatedly linked fascism, racism and anti-Semitism before, during, and after World War II,” said Applebaum, who explained that during Robeson’s run of Othello (to this day the longest-running Shakespearean production in Broadway history), he appeared in Boston to speak against local anti-Semitic incidents incited by Reverend Coughlin's national radio broadcasts.

Applebaum, a native of Bayonne, New Jersey, is a Professor at Mount Ida College in Newton, where he directs its Communications Program. A former Fulbright Lecturer based in Turin, Italy, he received a Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and taught at Harvard University at the Graduate School of Design, and the Kennedy School of Government. Like Robeson himself, he was a varsity debater elected to the Cap and Skull senior honor society at Rutgers. Applebaum’s writing has appeared in The New York Times and The Boston Globe Magazine, and his award-winning video documentary appeared on Cambridge Community Television.

A member of an Orthodox family that was very involved in the Jewish community, he graduated from the United Hebrew School. He has lived in the Cambridge/Somerville area since 1975; his family, which belongs to Cambridge’s Congregation Beth Shalom, the Tremont Street Shul, has also been long affiliated with Harvard Hillel and Congregation Eitz Chayim.

“Robeson was a star whose appeal was to my parents’ generation; indeed, my mother had a 78 rpm, 1939 recording of his RCA album “Ballad for Americans,” recalled Applebaum, who first became aware of the forgotten hero as a member of Rutgers Class of '68.

“His connection to Jews, and vice-versa, is especially apparent around Passover when we are commanded to regard ourselves as slaves,” he continued. “I have more than once played his recording of ‘Go Down Moses (Let My People Go)’ at seders.” Robeson's father, a former slave, educated himself and then attended Lincoln University to train for the ministry.

Although James Earl Jones played Robeson on Broadway (the show stopped in Boston), Applebaum emphasizes that his production will not be a portrayal. “It’s better described as a multi-media presentation in which I'll talk, play some of his records, show slides of him, clips from his films and a short Academy-award winning documentary on his life, art, and politics,” he said.

“I wouldn't be capable of portraying Paul Robeson. Indeed, who is?”

The Zeitgeist Gallery presents Paul Robeson: Mystery, Marvel, Model, Saturday, April 17, at 7 pm. Donation: $7. Wheelchair accessible. At the Zeitgeist Gallery, 1353 Cambridge St., Inman Sq., Cambridge. For information, call the Gallery 617-876-6060, or visit www.zeitgeist-gallery.org.