Lecture 6 - Paul Robeson: Art in the Service of Heroism

The sixth lecture in Professor Susan Neiman's Gifford Lectures

Event details

Date: Thursday 12 May 2022, 5:30pm to 6:30pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre A, 40 George Square

Lecture abstract

Hopefully Robeson is better known in Scotland than in his native USA, where McCarthyist persecution succeeded in destroying not only the artist’s life but in a large measure his reputation, though W.E.B. Dubois once called him the most famous American in the world.  This son of an escaped slave honed his extraordinary talents to become a model of the artist as hero.  In answering some objections about his political commitments I will also discuss the question:  how flawed can a hero be?

Lecture video

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