This Music Monday we honor singer and actor Paul Robeson’s 121st birthday. Robeson was born April 9, 1898 and became a friend and supporter of south Wales miners after he met a delegation of miners on a hunger march in 1929. The singer regularly performed for benefit concerts for the miners’ union and was invited to perform in Wales with the Treorchy mens choir at the Eistedfodd in 1957, but the US government had revoked his passport because he refused to disavow communism socialism mend that the government had revoked his passport.
In this clip from a 1949 National Coal Board film, Robeson sings the labor ballad I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill to the Scottish miners
Paul Robeson: I dreamed I saw Joe Hill