‘Ol’ Man River’ at the Front: Paul Robeson, Music, and Blackness in Republican Spain

Abstract

Several scholars have discussed the impact of the Spanish Civil War on the Black singer, actor, and activist Paul Robeson, including his brief 1938 tour of Republican Spain. Yet none has considered the tour in musical terms, nor taken into account Spanish reaction. Drawing on coverage in the Republican press, along with recent work on vocality and identity, I argue that the tour challenged prior notions of blackness in Spain. Spanish journalists addressed Robeson’s singing from the standpoint of the ‘suspect whiteness of Spain’ (to borrow Fra-Molinero’s apt description) while Robeson himself linked blackness and flamenco and reformulated the ‘sorrow song,’ as W. E. B. Du Bois called the spiritual. I also analyse Robeson’s performances of ‘Ol’ Man River’ from the musical Show Boat in terms of Republic ideology. In sum, Robeson challenged Franco’s vision of ‘blood purity’ (limpieza de sangre) while calling for racial justice worldwide.