2. Ol' Man River

Available for over a year

Susan Robeson tells a story both the personal and the political through the song that is forever identified with her grandfather, Ol’ Man River. Written expressly for him in 1927 by Hammerstein and Kern for their groundbreaking musical Show Boat, Robeson would not wrap his unique voice around it until he was relocated in London the next year. It was a song he would go on to have a lasting and complex relationship with as a black superstar performing for white audiences. “My grandfather transformed Ol’ Man River from a song of submission and despair into a song of resistance. It became an anthem embodying his spirit. When Paul sang his version of Ol’ Man River the message was clear: systems of oppression cannot silence or destroy me.” Producer: Mark Burman