"Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson" by Barbara Ransby

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Eslanda "Essie" Cardozo Goode Robeson lived a colorful and amazing life. Her career and commitments took her many places: colonial Africa in 1936, the front lines of the Spanish Civil War, the founding meeting of the United Nations, Nazi-occupied Berlin, Stalin's Russia, and China two months after Mao's revolution. She was a woman of unusual accomplishment—an anthropologist, a prolific journalist, a tireless advocate of women's rights, an outspoken anti-colonial and antiracist activist, and an internationally sought-after speaker.

Barbara Ransby writes of Eslanda's live in her new book.

Barbara Ransby is an historian, writer, and longtime political activist. She serves on the editorial board of the London-based journal, Race and Class, and a number of non-profit civic and media organizations and teaches at The University of Illinois at Chicago.