Songs Of Freedom is more than a showcase for the great voice of Paul Robeson. It exposes the desperate attempts of the FBI and other secret services in America to stop his playing and to discredit him. It reveals that for a while in the 50s his actual life was in danger as long as he continued along the path of friendship with the Soviet Union and the cause of international socialism. Robeson never compromised and it put an end to his domestic career. Abroad, he was a hero.

His career begins in England in 1927 and is influenced by a chance meeting with Jomo Kenyatta on the set of the film, Sanders Of The River. He drew attention to the African roots of gospel music and spirituals in his repertoire. He was invited to Moscow by the great film-maker Eisenstein to work on a biopic of the Haitian rebel leader Toussaint L'Ouverture. During the Second World War, he embraced the anti-fascist alliance. After the War he refused to adopt a Cold War position and he remained a supporter of communism, the labour movement and the anti-colonial struggles all his life.

The documentary threads his songs and political rallies and speeches in a way that throws light on 50 years of black activism in America from the Depression years to the assassinations of Dr Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Interviews included - Henry Winston, Bayard Rustin, Paul Robeson Jr, Dr John Henrik Clarke, and professors Naison, Garrow and Duberman.

Featured songs

John Brown’s Body, Motherless Child, Scandalize My Name, Joe Hill, Volga Boat Song, When I Get Home, Goin Home.