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Writing Paul Robeson's Biography

Martin Bauml Duberman was personally selected by Robeson's son to write about the legendary African American actor and activist. Duberman says he brought to bear own experiences in the theater and as a gay man while working on the book. He joins Fresh Air to discuss his research, as well Robeson's political activity and the effect government surveillance had on his mental health.

28:12
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Other segments from the episode on February 24, 1989

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, February 24, 1989: Interview with Martin Bauml Duberman; Commentary on Cole Porter's music; Interview with Anne Waldman; Review of the home video release of the film …
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09:51

Poet Ann Waldman

Waldman grew up in Greenwich Village and joined a community of poets who moved to her neighborhood. She says her work is influenced by the noises of the street as the, as well as the writings of other poets.

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A Flop in the Theaters Worth Revisiting

The 1967 film Point Blank, directed by John Moorman, never found a wide audience in the U.S. Critic Ken Tucker says the crime thriller was a success nonetheless, with a brutal, fast-moving style and a directorial vision never recaptured in Moorman's later work.

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Martin Duberman on Growing Up Gay

Duberman has written a memoir about being gay in the 1950s -- before the gay liberation movement, and at a time when homosexuality was considered deviant behavior by the psychiatrists. It's called "Cures: A Gay Man's Odyssey.

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A new Criterion four-DVD box set — Paul Robeson: Portraits of the Artist features several of Robeson's films and an abundance of documentary material.

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Paul Robeson Jr. has just written a new memoir called The Undiscovered Paul Robeson, the first of a two part series on his father, the famed actor, singer and athlete. He talks about his fathers rise in show business and what it was like growing up as the son of an icon. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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