447 Paul Robeson (1898-1976) “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” 1926

“My own people—many of them—have felt that the old Spirituals were not in keeping with the aspirations of the modern Negro. They feel that white audiences approach the Spirituals in a patronizing spirit. Perhaps this is true, but it is what they take with them from a concert that means most. The distinctive gift of the Negro has made to America has not been from the brilliantly successful colored men and women who, after all, have done only what white people are doing. It is from the most humble of our people that the music now recognized as of abiding beauty has emanated” (Paul Robeson, The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist’s Journey, 2001). 

Paul Robeson “Swing Low,  Sweet Chariot”