I've learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed... I have sung my songs all over the world and everywhere found that some common bond makes the people of all lands take to Negro songs as their own.
Paul RobesonRead
With Othello, Shakespeare posed this problem of a black man in a white society in the role that he's playing. And Shakespeare gave Othello such dignity - he came not from - as he said - not from hate but from honor, from a sense of his own human dignity. And to me, to my mind, there could be no greater character played.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Shakespeare's portrayal of Othello highlights themes of dignity and honor in the context of racial identity.
In this quote, Paul Robeson reflects on Shakespeare's character Othello, emphasizing the unique portrayal of a black man navigating a predominantly white society. Robeson asserts that Othello's dignity and honor are paramount, as he is driven not by hatred but by a profound sense of his own worth as a human being, suggesting that this character's complexity and depth is unmatched in the realm of literature.
Themes
OthelloShakespeareDignityHonorRaceIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about race relations, I might quote Paul Robeson to illustrate the dignity of marginalized communities.
More from Paul Robeson
All quotes →We ask for nothing that is not ours by right, and herein lies the great moral power of our demand.
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My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter, and my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked bread for George Washington's troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own father was a slave.
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The intolerance of the few, or the risk of it, carries the day against the wider humanity of the many.
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I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom
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And at home in the United States we found continued and increased persecution, first of leaders of the Communist Party, and then of all honest anti-fascists.
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