| On May 18, 1952 Paul Robeson stood on the back of a flat bed truck and sang songs of defiance and solidarity to 40,000 people on the US-Canadian border. Fifty years later, on May 18, 2002, that event will be commemorated with another concert on the border. The venue was an odd one for one of the great artists of the 20th century, and the sponsor, the International Union on Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. "Mine Mill", as it was known, represented some of the most militant North American workers, the hard rock miners, whose battles with the mine owners were legendary. Paul Robeson, whose own uncompromising militancy in the face of oppression and injustice was equally well known, had been invited to sing at the Fourth Canadian Convention of the union in Vancouver in February of 1952.The American authorities, however, had seized Robeson’s passport, and he was denied permission to leave his country. The convention heard Robeson sing over the telephone and promised to organize a concert on the US-Canadian border. Accompanied by Lawrence Brown on piano, Robeson sang and spoke for 45 minutes. He introduced his first song stating, "I stand here today under great stress because I dare, as do you-all of you, to fight for peace and for a decent life for all men, women and children". The Peace Arch Concert was a rare victory, a massive show of solidarity, and a demonstration that the dream of a different world was still alive. The piano Robeson played, lovingly kept all these years, will once again adorn a flat bed truck for a stage. Artists who live, work and sing for the things that Robeson represented, "peace and a decent life for all men, women, and children", will sing from that truck. To show that what Robeson fought for is still worth fighting for, and to commemorate the Memorial Concert at Peace Arch Park on May 18th, 2002, we are offering a poster produced by the SEIU Greenhouse Cultural Program/Bread & Roses Cultural Project, Service Employees International Union AFL-CIO, CLC. Poster Size 16" X 24" Click to view other Paul Robeson poster. |
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