The Professor and the Pupil: The Politics and Friendship of W. E. B Du Bois and Paul Robeson [Paperback]

Murali Balaji (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 7, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1568583559 | ISBN-13: 978-1568583556 | Edition: 1

W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson were both leading figures of the African American movement; their writing and teachings continue to inspire people around the world today. The Professor and the Pupil chronicles the 40-year friendship between Du Bois and Paul Robeson. Journalist Murali Balaji explores how both men evolved into leaders of the American Left, examining their philosophical transformation and their alienation from mainstream political thought following World War II. Balaji also explains why Du Bois and Robeson became ostracized for their political views and why so few African American leaders stood up to defend them during the height of the Cold War. In examining the lives of both men, The Professor and the Pupil also details the changing social and political conditions around the world that led Du Bois and Robeson to their political epiphanies and eventually their downfall in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though honored as two of the most influential African-American leaders of the past century, journalist and novelist Balaji (House of Tinder) compensates in this political biography for "revisionist" historians who regularly omit Du Bois and Robeson's long-standing involvement with the Communist Party, distorting their impact on anti-colonial and radical political thought, eroding their legacies and diminishing their courage in the face of McCarthyism. Du Bois (1868-1963) began his career as an academic and authored 34 books, most notably Souls of Black Folk, co-founded the NAACP and was an early advocate of Pan-Africanism. Best known for his Show Boat performance of "Ol' Man River" and his portrayal of Shakespeare's Othello, Robeson (1898-1976) gained international celebrity status (called "America's No. 1 Negro") with starring roles on Broadway and the London stage. With both narrative chronology and close reading of their work, Balaji demonstrates how over time each became more radical, moved into the communist orbit in the 1930's, and ultimately met professional defeat in the 1950's when they refused to recant their convictions. Though overly detailed and occasionally rambling, this book provides a sharp look into an often overlooked aspect of black history.
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Review

"Paul Robeson was the epitome of the 20th-century Renaissance man. He was an exceptional athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author, and political activist. His talents made him a revered man of his time, yet his radical political beliefs all but erased him from popular history. Today, more than one hundred years after his birth, Robeson is just beginning to receive the credit he is due."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Nation Books; 1 edition (December 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568583559
• ISBN-13: 978-1568583556
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dual Epiphanies, February 15, 2008

By 

doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Professor and the Pupil: The Politics and Friendship of W. E. B Du Bois and Paul Robeson (Paperback)

W.E.B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson are giants in black history and key influences on the civil rights movement, but each man's distinctive political viewpoints have been glossed over by subsequent historians. Their long professional and personal friendship, not to mention their influence on each other's thinking, are also unappreciated. Here Murali Balaji provides a unique political biography of the interactions between the two great men. (It may help to be familiar with the personal biographies of Du Bois and Robeson before tackling this book, which is a more focused historical study.) In the era between the two World Wars, Du Bois and Robeson moved inexorably from fairly conventional civil rights activists to purveyors of a very distinct Leftist political philosophy, and later got into trouble with anti-Communists and drifted away from the mainstream of black political thought as espoused by the NAACP and similar organizations.

Here we find that during the darkest days of McCarthyism and the early civil rights movement, these two formerly inspirational leaders fell out with many of their former devotees and were ostracized by the mainstream, and had to rely on their friendship to withstand great amounts of government harassment and popular criticism. Fortunately, the works of Du Bois and Robeson enjoyed new influence with later black leaders who were not cowed by the establishment that kept the two great thinkers down and which forced conformity and moderation from the mainstream black community. An additional bonus of Balaji's political history is his coverage of the sheer complexity and variety of political thought during the first half of the 20th Century, which came to an end with the anti-Left bowdlerization of the American political scene in subsequent decades. This book offers very unique coverage of the political lives of two fellow travelers and the confounding times in which they lived. [~doomsdayer520~]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Professor and the Pupil: W. E. B Du Bois and Paul Robeson, August 29, 2011

By 

MILTON REED - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Professor and the Pupil: The Politics and Friendship of W. E. B Du Bois and Paul Robeson (Paperback)

Good Book...a must read for those interested in the not so popular African American History. The book makes a great gift also.