Fifty years after Paul Robeson’s death, a new book explores Jackie Robinson’s reluctant 1949 testimony against him before the House Un-American Activities Committee, at the start of the Cold War. Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America is out now from Mariner Books.
Karsh wrote, “I invited this all-American athlete and gifted performer to be photographed after hearing his concert in Ottawa. His magnificent voice turned the theater into a cathedral. The next day, during our photographic session, he regaled me with spirituals of such surpassing beauty that I wanted to share them with my wife. Robeson was introduced to her over the telephone, and Solange had a private concert all her own.”