'I feel now that at least I have roots': Eslanda Robeson’s African journey

'I have roots'

This powerful sentence was written by Eslanda (Essie) Goode Robeson (1895–1965) following a three-month journey through Africa in 1936. Essie was writing to Hanns Vischer, Joint Secretary to the Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies for Britain, who had helped arrange her travels. From her letter, the impact of her experiences is palpable.

19 Buckingham Street
Adelphi, London.
Sunday, 18 October.

My dear Major Vischer,

Well, we're back safe and sound. I wasn't so sound when I first returned. I'd got some germ, which lodged in my intestinal wall, and gave me a dreadful time. But my small son was very fit, and actually took care of me during the last lap of the journey.

We had a marvellous time. In many ways. You know, all Americans, except Negroes, come from somewhere, - Italy, Germany, England etc. All have, way back, a “mother” Country. But we Negroes have none. This visit to Africa made me feel very much the way I'm sure a German American must feel when he first visits his “Old Country". I feel now that at least I have roots, that there are millions of other people like me - black and all shades of brown, - and so I feel more comfortable generally. If you know what I mean. It was even more important for my son. He now knows there are millions of black people, and that he is by no means a freak of nature, with his brown skin!!!

But of course there were many many interesting things and people. Some day, if I may, I'll come in and tell you about some of them, and show you my films and snapshots.

Essie’s words illustrate the profound impression her experiences made on her – a Black American woman living in the first part of the 20th century. But who was Essie and why was the Colonial Office helping her?

Marriage to Paul Robeson

Essie was best known for being married to Paul Robeson, the internationally famous Black American singer, actor and political activist. The pair met at Colombia University and married in 1921.

Essie graduated in chemistry and was the first Black person to head the surgical pathology and histological chemistry department at New York City's Presbyterian Hospital.

In 1925, as Paul’s career took off, Essie left her job to become his manager. In 1928 they moved to London with their baby son, Paul Junior (Pauli). They had originally gone to the capital so Paul could appear in Show Boat at the Drury Lane Theatre. Following the run, however, they decided to stay and moved to Hampstead in the northwest of the city.

In 1934 Essie began studying anthropology at the London School of Economics (LSE). In her 1946 book, ‘African Journey’ she relates her frustration at the academic perception of African people as 'primitive', and the dismissiveness she encountered when she put forward her own views:

To Essie, these attitudes were nothing new. They reminded her of arguments she had heard in the United States.

Journey planning

It was in 1936, eight years after their arrival in London, that Essie embarked on her first trip to Africa. She had a long-held ambition to visit the continent, and her experiences at LSE, along with a desire to connect 8-year-old Pauli to African cultures appear to have given her the push she needed.

Having lived in the UK from the age of 10 months, Essie commented that Pauli 'had thought we were the only brown people in a totally white world.'

Essie planned to visit Cape Province and Johannesburg in South Africa, followed by Swaziland (now Eswatini), Mozambique and Uganda where she would carry out her anthropological fieldwork with herdspeople – traditional nomadic communities – in Toro.

Initially, there were difficulties in obtaining visas. Essie wrote in African Journey:

Essie had to provide the Colonial Office with evidence that she was studying at LSE and the trip was for her fieldwork, before the visas were issued.

Colonial Office motivations

A Colonial Office file in the collections here at The National Archives provides insight into the concerns and motivations of the Colonial Office in assisting Essie with her trip. After receiving a request from Essie’s professor, Bronislaw Malinowski, to give all possible assistance, a Colonial Office memo, written by a Mr Flood, notes that:

DOWNING STREET.

26 May, 1936.

AIR MAIL
CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Merrick,

This is about the rummiest letter I have ever written to you. Mrs. Paul Robeson, wife of the great Paul Robeson, is busy planning a visit to East Africa. She has been over here for some years and has attended courses and instruction under Professor Malinowski at the London School of Economics (she would!). She has been anxious for some years to get out to Africa so as to see something of the African people and this summer she has arranged her husband’s work so that she can leave him. She proposes to go out to Nyasaland and there stay with Miss Margaret Read, who is carrying out research

Hanns Vischer appears to have taken responsibility for arranging the assistance requested by Professor Malinowski. Vischer wrote letters of introduction for Essie connecting her to people in Africa who he felt could be helpful to her. He sent separate covering letters to the same contacts, expressing a desire to ensure the work of the Colonial Office was shown in a positive light:

The Colonial Office’s willingness to assist Essie appears to have been based on more than academic goodwill. The correspondence reveals concerns about reputation, international politics and the exposure of colonial rule to someone who had the potential to publicly challenge it.

By Spring 1936, Essie’s plans were in place, and first-class passage was booked for her and Pauli on the SS Winchester Castle which sailed from Southampton on 29 May. The Board of Trade passenger list, which details those who set sail from Ireland or Britain during the 19th and 20th centuries, shows their entry under the list of ‘alien’ passengers. The entry is written as ‘Robeson (Mrs Paul) Eslanda Goode’ (age 39) and ‘Master Paul’ (age 8). Essie is described as a student and her address is given as 19 Buckingham Street, Strand, London.

Name of Ship: Winchester Castle

Date of Departure: 29th May 1936

Where Bound: South Africa

Name and Descriptions of Alien Passengers Embarked at the Port of Southampton

Names of Passengers: Robeson (Mrs Paul) Eslanda Goode, Master Paul

Last Address in the United Kingdom: 19 Buckingham Street, Strand, London

Profession, Occupation, or Calling of Passenger: Student

Ages of Passengers: 39, 8

Country of which Citizen or Subject: American

Country of Intended Future Permanent Residence: England

The Board of Trade passenger lists have numerous entries for Paul and Essie as they criss-crossed the Atlantic during the 1920s and 30s for Paul’s work. Until 1928 Essie’s occupation is given as chemist, but after she gave up her job at the New York Presbyterian Hospital her entries begin listing her occupation as housewife.

African Journey

After traveling through South Africa and different destinations along the east coast, Essie and Pauli arrived at Toro in Uganda where she began her fieldwork, studying the herdspeople there. On 20 July Essie wrote to Hanns Vischer thanking him for his assistance and listing the places they had seen:

My dear Major Vischer,

Pauli and I are having the most marvellous trip. We did 2000 miles by car thru South Africa, visiting Basutoland especially, attending a real African wedding, and an all-African convention at Bloemfontein. We ended up at Johannesburg where we saw the mines. Then down thru Portuguese East Africa to Lorenco Marques, where we caught the coast steamer. Called at Beira, Ibo, Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar. Off the ship at Mombasa, by train up thru Kenya to Nairobi; saw Kilimanjaro at dawn, came thru the Game reserve, to Pauli’s great delight. Were collected at Kampala by our friend Nyabongo, who brought us to Toro.

We are now installed in a Chief’s house here; a whole wing has been turned over to us, we have our own private courtyard, private bath enclosure, etc. We have discarded everything European and are living entirely African fashion, – eating with our hands and everything. Everyone is so interested in us, that they bring us presents from far and near, and sit and ask questions about the outside world. They are giving every every help with my field work, – in fact bringing everything which is trans-portable here so I can see and watch without going out in the heat.

I think I shall be able to do a good piece of field work as a result.

I want to thank you most earnestly and warmly for all the help you have given me. Everywhere officials have made my way clear and easy, have been beautifully hospitable, and intelligently helpful. I have not been able to see too much of them, because I have had to be entirely with Africans, in order to see their customs.

I hope you have had a pleasant summer. I will drop in to see you in person, in order to thank you properly, when we return in early September.

Sincerely,

Eslanda Goode Robeson

Mrs.Paul Robeson.

The next leg of their journey took them through East Africa:

Essie’s trip is detailed in her engaging and revealing book, ‘African Journey’. Although it wasn’t published until 1946, it is based on diaries she kept during the 1936 journey. The book goes into detail about Essie’s reactions to the living and working conditions she witnessed in the places she visited, and it’s interesting that she doesn’t mention this in her letter to Vischer. It seems reasonable to conclude that she knew it would be too controversial.

Problems with Customs

Her fieldwork complete, Essie and Pauli began the arduous journey home by plane from Entebbe, in Uganda, to Alexandria, in Egypt (completed in stages over four days), then by seaplane to Brindisi in Italy, train to Paris and a final flight to London, arriving on 25 August. As Essie tells Vischer, on the return she came down with 'some germ' which gave her 'a dreadful time'. Fortunately, she writes that Pauli was able to take 'care of me during the last lap of the journey'.

Their luggage was shipped separately, but when it arrived, UK Customs asked her to declare the value of the items she was bringing back. Essie wrote to Vischer for advice, explaining that the items were:

CONTENTS OF 3 PACKAGES EX s.s. “GRANTULLY CASTLE”.

No.1. Suit Case.
Personal Clothing.
Books & Private Papers.
1 Bead Necklet. X
1 Parcel Gramophone Records. X
a present to Mrs. Robeson from Griffiths Motsieloa & The Singer Gramophone Coy. Johannesburg.
99 Different rolls of films.
? 84 photographic. ) X
? 11 cine films. ) German X

No.2. Suit Case.
Dozen Wicker Mats. X
2 “[wicker] Baskets. X
1 Wood Small Stand. X
1 Wood Carved Native’s Head
(Man’s) X pair.
1 “[wood]“ [carved] (Woman’s) “[Native’s]“ [Head]… X
1 “[wood]“ Playing Tom-tom. X
Personal Clothing.
Books

No.3. Trunk.
3 Metal Vases. X
Personal Clothing.
1 Roll film, photographic. X
Numerous Small Ivory Carvings. X
Books.

In her book, Essie notes how in Africa, when she said she admired something, she later found she was presented with a gift: 'Africans, with their exquisite politeness, will give you things you admire'. These included 'lovely beadwork', 'a beautiful Swazi wedding headdress', 'Zulu pieces from Natal'. To Essie these were all 'priceless – a museum collection, and I would show it everywhere.'

For Essie, the items represented knowledge, relationships and lived experience, and giving them a financial value was understandably difficult.

Lasting impact

Essie’s ‘African Adventure’ and her letter to Hanns Vischer in October 1936 show the profound impact her experiences in Africa had on her. Both she and Paul had been active advocates for civil rights in America, but after her journey, Essie’s understanding of the impact of colonialism on populations across the world was clarified.

On 1 October 1939, following the start of the Second World War, the family left the UK and moved back to the US. In 1941 she and Paul joined the Council on African Affairs, an American organisation promoting Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism. In 1946 she obtained a PhD in anthropology from Hartford Seminary in Connecticut and in the same year ‘African Journey’ was published.

Essie and Paul were viewed with suspicion by the American authorities, and for many years in the 1950s their passports were revoked and they were unable to travel. Once their passports were returned in 1958, Essie attended the first post-colonial All-African Peoples’ Conference in Ghana.

Essie died in New York in 1965, just before her 70th birthday.

Related records

There are a number of records at The National Archives that relate to Paul and Essie Robeson:

• From our collection

  CO 537/4198

  Title

  Confidential General and Confidential Original Correspondence. Miscellaneous cases, Paul Robeson

  Date

  1948

• From our collection

  CO 822/70/14

  Title

  Visit of Mrs Paul Robeson to East Africa

  Date

  1936

• From our collection

  FO 371/81650

  Title

  Possible visit of Paul Robeson to Trinidad

  Date

  1950

• From our collection

  HO 382/6

  Title

  ROBESON, Paul: American singer and wife, Eslanda; approval for visit

  Date

  1949–1977

• From our collection

  KV 2/1829

  Title

  COMMUNITSTS AND SUSPECTED COMMUNISTS. Paul ROBESON, Essie ROBESON

  Date

  1936–1950

• From our collection

  KV 2/2550

  Title

  COMMUNITSTS AND SUSPECTED COMMUNISTS... Reference to Paul ROBESON speaking and fund raising

  Date

  1954–1955

• From our collection

  YBBK/B/30

  Title

  The Beaverbrook papers: engagement of artists including Paul Robeson to perform at Cherkley

  Date

  1928