Unsung heroes sung
Angela Cobbinah considers the genesis of our latest magazine â a celebration of the black and Asian people from our patc
08 April, 2021 â By Angela Cobbinah
I WAS taking a walk down to Kingâs Cross and found myself standing in Goldington Street, Somers Town, former home of a tiny fringe theatre called the Unity. It was here in 1938 that Paul Robeson, one of the highest paid entertainers in the world, performed for free after sensationally turning down an offer to star in the West End.
The play,
Plant in the Sun, was about striking workers, staple fare for the avant-garde Unity and a perfect vehicle for the increasingly politically conscious Robeson. I imagined Robeson making his way to the converted Methodist chapel where the Unity was based, from his home in leafy Hampstead to Somers Town, its air grimy from the smoke of steam trains coming in and out of St Pancras station, and I wondered whether any passing local would have been able to quite