In 1933, she appeared opposite Paul Robeson in the movie version of Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones.

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Giants such as Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Paul Robeson, Arthur Miller and Joseph Losey were among the hundreds denied work.

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American singer, actor and attorney Paul Robeson was taken in by the Soviet Union and proclaimed its lack of segregation was evidence of freedom's progress while millions were being murdered by Joseph Stalin in gulags.

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Eisner, who grew up in Manhattan, the child of left-leaning parents who hosted fundraisers for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg (one of his earliest memories is of Paul Robeson singing) was never the smartest kid in the room, but he always wanted to get As and spent a lot of time studying how the smart kids learned.

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She wasn't somebody who could stand up and, say, like a Paul Robeson, make a whole sort of statement, but she could sing this song, and apparently, according to letters from--that I read of William Dufty, the ghostwriting journalist who wrote "The Lady Sings the Blues, " the FBI and other peoples actually said if she stopped singing this song they would give her an easier ride.

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