BBC Documentaries

Speak Of Me As I Am (1998x11)

: 07, 1998

Documentary film looking at the remarkable life of one of America's greatest black heroes. Paul Robeson was a national football star who became a successful stage and screen actor, and enjoyed international acclaim in films such as Show Boat. He used his formidable reputation as a weapon in the fight for human rights for black people in the thirties and forties, but fell foul of both the black and white establishments as a result of his support for communism. Robeson was denounced for un-American activities, trailed by the FBI, had his passport confiscated for eight years and finally died a depressed and reclusive man. In the centenary year of his birth he remains a shadowy and controversial figure in his native country. The programme uses eye-witness accounts and archive footage to construct this portrait of a complex man who sacrificed his career for the sake of social justice.