Stalinův černý apoštol: afroamerický zpěvák Paul Robeson v Československu

• Authors: Františka Schormová

Title variants

EN

Stalin’s black apostle: Afro-American singer Paul Robeson in Czechoslovakia

• Languages of publication: CS

Abstracts

EN

Paul Robeson (1898–1976), an African American singer, athlete, actor, and Leftist political activist, visited Czechoslovakia in 1929, 1945, 1949, and 1959. He was in contact with official Czechoslovak structures, was writing about Czech music, and learning Czech. This article focuses especially on his 1949 visit and Robeson’s economic and artistic relations to Czechoslovakia. It also explores the broader context of relations between Czechoslovakia and the Afro-American community against the backdrop of the early Cold War, decolonization processes, and the onset of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. In doing so, it also looks at mechanism of cultural exchange within the Radical Leftist internationalist networks, including the dominant role Robeson played as the “introducer” of African American music and culture in Czechoslovakia during the 1950s, and also at views of Czechoslovak cultural intermediaries, such as writer Josef Škvorecký (1924–2012) or musicologist, journalist and music critic Lubomír Dorůžka (1924–2013), on jazz and African American spirituals, which contrasted with those of Robeson. In the Czech context, Robeson is mainly remembered through Škvorecký’s critical comments, labelling Robeson “Stalin’s Black Apostle”. US accounts of Robeson, on the other hand, have often, and until recently, presented a depoliticized version of Robeson, understating the importance of his international activities. A view of Robeson’s career based on Czech and US archival sources, as well as new studies on Robeson and the internationalist networks within which he was operating, cast doubts on both of these narratives and offer a chance to reconsider and re-evaluate this historical figure and the transnational dynamics that brought him to Czechoslovakia.

Keywords

CS

Paul Robeson; Československo; Spojené státy; afroamerická hudba; jazz; spirituály; studená válka; kulturní výměna; levicové mezinárodní sítě; hnutí za občanská práva

EN

Paul Robeson; Czechoslovakia; United States; African American music; jazz; spirituals; Cold War; cultural exchange; Leftist internationalist networks; Civil Rights movements

Discipline

• HISTORY: HISTORY

• Publisher: Institute of Contemporary History, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 183-213
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Františka Schormová

• Soudobé dějiny, redakce, Ústav pro soudobé dějiny AV ČR, v.v.i., Vlašská 9, 118 40 Praha 1, Czech Republic