Peoples Eastbourne is delighted to commemorate the birthday anniversary of Paul Robeson and remember his well loved link to our town.
‘Paul Robeson 1942 crop.jpg’, Gordon Parks and Office of War Information, Public Domain
The legendary black American socialist, singer and film star Paul Robeson performed in the town in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s at The Floral Hall at the Winter Garden.
The people of Eastbourne couldn’t get enough of Paul Robeson’s performances. Crowds were left outside as the Floral Hall was standing room full time and time again., as outlined in the following newspaper reports:-
● The Eastbourne Gazette reported on their front page on 15 August 1934 there was ‘Paul Robeson Enthusiasm at the Winter Garden’:- ‘Extraordinary and almost overpowering was the enthusiasm that greeted Paul Robeson’s singing at the Winter Garden, Devonshire Park, Sunday evening, by an audience that all but overflowed into the gangways.’
● As ‘EHB’ noted in the Eastbourne Gazette on Wednesday 24 April 1935, ‘The huge audience that gathered in the Winter Garden hear Mr Paul Robeson on Saturday evening offered another striking example star worship. Not only was every seat, but every inch of standing-room in the hall was occupied by this vast concourse. He was received on Saturday evening with the frenzied acclamation due to a member of the film constellation, and whatever he sang was accorded the tribute of an ovation.
For a fuller account of Paul Robeson time in Eastbourne please see this article.
Eastbourne needs a lasting memorial to Paul Robeson. The Engels in Eastbourne Campaign went a very long way towards achieving the aim establishing a Paul Robeson Room at The Winter Garden. It took ages to get to the point where everyone was on board. All the msjor stakeholders. But, unfortunately, council bureaucracy and new venue management has placed this aim on pause.
Peoples Eastbourne has contacted the new management on several occasions, but, as yet, have not received an response. We will preserve. To NOT have a lasting memorial to someone as internationally important as Paul Robeson is a travesty.