as you may recall, paul robeson born in new jersey died in philadelphia. in-between then he extent -- excelled as a scholar rutgers university and as an athlete an all-american football player baseball catcher, a florida basketball, but he achieved fame as a cultural worker as a singer and actor is not an exaggeration to suggest at the apex of his career he was the best known black american on planet earth and maybe one of the best u.s. nationals because his records were all over the world and his movies were broadcast all over the world as well. but paul robeson did not find that to be satisfying to be world-renowned because he knew despite his own personality minted achievements, languishing in hell hole of jim crow were his brothers and sisters in dixie. also the number of black cultural workers, in particular musicians he found his fame and fortune overseas. that is a repetitive pattern of black americans and their artistic gifts are recognized more read of the outside of the united states and inside and paul robeson moving to london in his early 20s i

you get a law degree," and my mom saying, "ah, then you should do your first school report on paul robeson my mom. that picture of my mom is from 1963, brooklyn, when the construction workers in new york were not-they were segregated. they were-in fact, none of the new york construction companies were hiring blacks at that time. and so, people had mobilized to force the hand of the local government to hire black construction workers. yeah. and so thahat's what m my mom was protesting in brooklyn. and, of course, she's being arrested there. and so, i had heard about that p picture f for years. and then, about two years ago, a cousin of mine was on ebay and was like, "hey, , isn't thatat your mom" and we were all like, "oh, my god! that's a picture of"-my mom is still alive. in fact, she just had her 75th birthday, so happy b birthday, m mom. and yeah, that's her. that's her in a all of her glory with her fist up, singing, in the arms of the police. amy goodman: let me ask you about tupac, tupac shakur. saul williams: yes. amy goodman: holler if ya hear me, the broadway musical that you did.

. >> this will not just be about confronting blacks but also the revolutionary life of paul robeson with this guy, ed gerald horne is amazing as a scholar and historian please give a round of applause to welcome him. [applause]