American singer and activist Paul Robeson
American singer, actor, athlete, equal rights advocate and political activist Paul Robeson visited communist Romania in 1959. He had gotten his passport back just the previous year, after being blacklisted and having his passport seized by the US government on account of his vocal support for the USSR during the McCarthy era.
Cristina Mateescu, 23.01.2026, 14:00
Paul Robeson was born in 1898 as the son of a pastor. Academically gifted, he won a scholarship at Rutgers University, where he excelled both in sports and in the arts. He then entered Columbia University, earning a law degree. But it was the stage that most attracted Robeson and he went on to become a full-time performer, as a singer and actor.
As his career took him all over the world, he became a keen advocate of civil rights at a time when segregation was still legal in the US. He travelled to the Soviet Union, learnt Russian, among other languages, studied Marxism and saw the black struggle as being connected to the plight of the working classes all over the world. With the start of the Cold War, his engagement with left-wing politics and public support for the Soviet Union made him controversial in the United States amid growing anti-communist sentiment. He was eventually backlisted and his passport seized in 1950, putting an end to his meteoric rise to fame.
In August 1959 when he visited Romania, Robeson was once again free to travel and perform abroad. He was warmly received by the Eastern bloc countries, where he was hailed as a symbol of the fight against racism and imperialism. Romania also gave him an enthusiastic welcome. He was received by government officials, met workers and school children, visited factories and the Folklore Institute and spoke to the local press.
While his admiration of the Soviet Union still makes him a controversial figure, more recent scholarly work has reappraised his legacy as a human rights champion and as a revolutionary artist who believed that artists have a duty to speak truth to power.
