8/16/2019 Paul Robeson, the Spanish Civil War, and the Oliver Law Film That Never Was | Black Film Center-Archive

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Black Film Center/Archive

Indiana University – Bloomington

August 13, 2012

Paul Robeson, the Spanish Civil War, and the Oliver Law Film That Never Was

By BFC/APaul Robeson, the consummate renaissance man, is known as well for his amazing talent (an athlete, polyglot, orator, intellectual, singer, actor) as for his politicalinvolvement and passion for social justice. His involvement in the Spanish Civil War[i](/Users/Jonathan/Downloads/Paul%20Robeson,%20The%20Spanish%20Civil%20War,%20and%20the%20Oliver%20Law%20Film%20That%20Never%20Was.docx#on the side of the Republican forces, though less well known, stands out as an episode that brings together Robeson’s multitude of talents, and shows his backbone inthe worldwide struggle against fascism.

(https://blackfilmcenterarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/robeson.jpg)

After the fascist coup attempt and ensuing breakout of war across Spain in July of 1936, Robeson’s support of the democratically elected Spanish Republic againstgrew strong. He explained his support (http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false) for the effort at

a rally in London’s Albert Hall on June 24th , 1937:

The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative. The history of the capitalist era is characterized by thedegradation of my people: despoiled of their lands, their culture destroyed, they are in every country, save one, denied equal protection under the law, anddeprived of their rightful place in the respect of their fellows.

May your inspiring message reach every man, woman, and child who stands for freedom and justice. For the liberation of Spain from the oppression of fascistreactionaries is not a private matter of the Spaniards, but the common cause of all advanced and progressive humanity.

!"# %&'( )*+'(,#*- .#*#(/0+ 1 2/'0 3&4#+&*

Robeson recorded speeches and broadcast them to rallies in Spain (in the speech excerpted above, Robeson raised $8,000). He recorded songs that were sent to troopsof the Republic and of the International Brigades. Above (a photo montage video), Robeson sings The Four Insurgent Generals , a hymn of Spain’s betrayal. And here(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAVIL7AoAt0), a version of the Peat Bog Soldiers (Moorsoldaten) – a song that was written by communist prisoners in a Nazicamp in 1933, which has become a popular protest song for the international left – that Robeson recorded for the war effort.

Still, Robeson felt that he wasn’t helping the effort enough, and in 1938, he ventured to Spain to visit troops and lend support with his wife, Essie. She recorded thedetails of the journey in her diary (available in The Undiscovered Paul Robeson (http://www.amazon.com/Undiscovered-Robeson-Artists-Journey-1898-1939/dp/0471242659)),where she records how the Robesons first heard of Oliver Law while driving across Spain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCa3Kslx-WIhttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/http://www.amazon.com/Undiscovered-Robeson-Artists-Journey-1898-1939/dp/0471242659http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAVIL7AoAt0http://books.google.com/books?id=V_CJfbpKOLwC&pg=PA119&lpg=PA119&dq=#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/robeson.jpghttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/Users/Jonathan/Downloads/Paul%20Robeson,%20The%20Spanish%20Civil%20War,%20and%20the%20Oliver%20Law%20Film%20That%20Never%20Was.docx#_edn1https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/author/blackfilmcenterarchive/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCa3Kslx-WI

8/16/2019 Paul Robeson, the Spanish Civil War, and the Oliver Law Film That Never Was | Black Film Center-Archive

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(https://blackfilmcenterarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/blog.jpg)Oliver Law (left) serving in Spain.

Oliver Law (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPlawO.htm) was a black man from Texas who joined the American Communist Party during the GreatDepression and later, signed up with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (http://www.alba-valb.org/) to fight against the fascists in Spain. Law rose to the rank of 

attalion commander (according to Essie’s diary, “Many officers and men considered him to be the best battalion commander in Spain”), before he was shot andkilled near Madrid.

Back in the U.S. in 1938, Robeson began to pursue the idea of making a film about Law that would detail Law’s life and the injustices lying behind Depression-eraAmerica and Spain. The film, which Ernest Hemmingway was reportedly interested in helping write, never got any funding, and fed Paul Robeson’s growingcontempt for Hollywood. He commented in an interview that “the same interests that block every effort to help Spain control the motion picture industry.”

(https://blackfilmcenterarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/robeson-in-spain450.jpg)Robeson (second from left), in Spain

Robeson’s experience with the Spanish Civil War and the failure of the Oliver Law film project only seemed to strengthen his resolve and commitment to working for justice and freedom. A young Harry Belafonte (here (http://www.cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu/robeson/belafonte.html), speaking to veterans of the Abraham LincolnBrigades) looked up to Paul Robeson as an exemplary model of activism and celebrity. Are the recent comments of Belafonte (http://thegrio.com/2012/08/08/harry-

elafonte-jay-z-beyonce-have-turned-their-back-on-social-responsibility/#s:harry-belafonte-beyonce-jay-z-16x9)

 , on the lack of social responsibility and activism of lack celebrities today, not that much more actual in the shadow of Paul Robeson?

And will someone please pick up the Oliver Law film?

[i](/Users/Jonathan/Downloads/Paul%20Robeson,%20The%20Spanish%20Civil%20War,%20and%20the%20Oliver%20Law%20Film%20That%20Never%20Was.docx#Check out this wonderful comic that covers Robeson’s time in Spain (http://www.alba-valb.org/resources/document-library/volunteer-june-2009)

 , printed by TheVolunteer , a publication of the Abraham Lincoln Brigades Archive (http://www.alba-valb.org/)

 About BFC/A 

The Black Film Center/Archive at Indiana University was established in 1981 as the first archival repository dedicated to collecting, preserving, and makingavailable historically and culturally significant films by and about black people. The BFC/A's primary objectives are to promote scholarship on black filmand to serve as an open resource for scholars, researchers, students, and the general public; to encourage creative film activity by independent black 

filmmakers; and to undertake and support research on the history, impact, theory, and aesthetics of black film traditions.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2012 at 9:00 AM and tagged with Abraham Lincoln Brigades, Harry Belafonte, International Brigades, Oliver Law,Paul Robeson, Spanish Civil War and posted in Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

5 responses to “Paul Robeson, the Spanish Civil War, and the Oliver Law Film That Never Was”

WM

February 18th, 2013 at 1:51 AMThank you for this interesting text. I have to read and analyze it once more with the purpose of writing a full comment.

Repllaurie levinger

 June 8th, 2013 at 7:33 PMMaybe John Sayles would like to take it on…

ReplOwen Hayhurst

October 29th, 2014 at 12:35 AMI’m writing a college thesis here. Law was one of my earliest heroes, the very first African-American to command Caucasian American troops in combat. Aforgotten hero who deserves recognition in the early fight against Fascism, Nazism, and reactionary ideologies both dead and fully present in 21st centuryAmerica.

https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/paul-robeson-the-spanish-civil-war-and-the-oliver-law-film-that-never-was/#comment-2058https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/paul-robeson-the-spanish-civil-war-and-the-oliver-law-film-that-never-was/?replytocom=1617#respondhttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/paul-robeson-the-spanish-civil-war-and-the-oliver-law-film-that-never-was/#comment-1617http://levinger.net/lauriehttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/paul-robeson-the-spanish-civil-war-and-the-oliver-law-film-that-never-was/?replytocom=1564#respondhttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/paul-robeson-the-spanish-civil-war-and-the-oliver-law-film-that-never-was/#comment-1564http://wandamichalakdomkuncewiczow.wordpress.com/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/2012/08/13/paul-robeson-the-spanish-civil-war-and-the-oliver-law-film-that-never-was/feed/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/tag/spanish-civil-war/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/tag/paul-robeson/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/tag/oliver-law/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/tag/international-brigades/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/tag/harry-belafonte/https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/tag/abraham-lincoln-brigades/http://www.alba-valb.org/http://www.alba-valb.org/resources/document-library/volunteer-june-2009https://blackfilmcenterarchive.wordpress.com/Users/Jonathan/Downloads/Paul%20Robeson,%20The%20Spanish%20Civil%20War,%20and%20the%20Oliver%20Law%20Film%20That%20Never%20Was.docx#_ednref1http://thegrio.com/2012/08/08/harry-belafonte-jay-z-beyonce-have-turned-their-back-on-social-responsibility/#s:harry-belafonte-beyonce-jay-z-16x9http://www.cpsr.cs.uchicago.edu/robeson/belafonte.htmlhttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/robeson-in-spain450.jpghttp://www.alba-valb.org/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPlawO.htmhttps://blackfilmcenterarchive.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/blog.jpg

8/16/2019 Paul Robeson, the Spanish Civil War, and the Oliver Law Film That Never Was | Black Film Center-Archive

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ReplA Forgotten Man of Principle: The Life of Oliver Law | TheGate

March 25th, 2015 at 4:37 PM[…] him distasteful to the Hollywood executives whom Robeson petitioned for support. An angry Robeson would exclaim in exasperation that “the same intereststhat block every effort to help Spain control the motion […]

ReplThe Center for Popular Economics

February 27th, 2016 at 3:13 PM[…] learn of Oliver Law on a fundraising & morale boosting trip for the Spanish republican forces. He tried to make a film (that Ernest Hemmingway was to helpco-write) that would broadcast Oliver Law’s heroism to the […]

Repl

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