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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
What can we learn from Freedom, a landmark magazine of the cold war era?
During the height of McCarthyist repression in the US, black rights legends Paul Robeson and Louis Burnham launched a publication that drew the anti-imperialist connections that others feared to make, writes ROGER McKENZIE
FEARLESS: Singer Paul Robeson addresses the crowd at a World Peace Movement rally in Lincoln’s Inn Field, London, 1950

IN A vain attempt to tidy up my clothes at home I came across a T-shirt emblazoned with “Always be yourself. But if you can’t be yourself, be Paul Robeson. Always be Paul Robeson.”

I’m not sure where I got this T-shirt but Robeson has always been one of the great inspirations of my life. He even had his feet firmly planted in two of my other great loves of music and sport. His bass-baritone voice was awe-inspiring especially for me with his rendition of Ole Man River.

Robeson was also — as I am sure many will know — a great athlete, particularly in American football where he was a college great. A feat all the more inspiring because of the way he overcame the racism that surrounded him which sought to block his progress.

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