In the tradition of James Baldwin's Notes of a Native Son, Robeson's A Black Way of Seeing melds history and analysis in a sweeping panorama of the present moment as we know it to be—scathing in its understanding of why Black empowerment has failed and prescient in its articulation of what it will take for Black Americans to be agents of change for the country as a whole.
A cultural critic and activist, Paul Robeson Jr. is the author of Paul Robeson, Jr. Speaks to America: The Politics of Multiculturalism and The Undiscovered Paul Robeson: An Artist’s Journey, among others. Son of the legendary actor and singer Paul Robeson Sr., he served for more than 20 years as his father’s close aide and personal representative, and lectured across the United States on topics of race and radical politics. After a life rich with joy and struggle, Robeson Jr. passed away on April 26, 2014, at the age of 86.