RAHS Day Lecture – The Last Tour: The Robeson’s Visit to Australia and New Zealand

Event Date & Time: Wednesday, 4 March 2026 @ 1.00 pm – 2.00 pm

Event Location: History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000 (hybrid)

Cost: Free

Event Description:

Paul Robeson was once the most famous African American in the world. Not only was he a renowned singer and actor, he was also a former professional athlete, lawyer and civil rights activist. Paul and his wife, Eslanda – a notable civil rights activist, author, United Nations journalist and anthropologist – were finally able to tour Australia and New Zealand in 1960, after the US government denied Paul a passport until 1958. The Robeson’s tour encompassed concerts, talks to unionists, fans, women’s organisations, communists, and peace activists. It involved active engagement with Indigenous peoples and their struggles in both countries. Through the Robeson’s eyes we see life on the Far Left, the emergence of new forms of Aboriginal and Māori protest, and the reception and influence of African American entertainers in Australia and New Zealand. The Last Tour explores why the Robeson’s trip was such a success and how it exerted a profound influence both at the time and over future generations.

About the speaker:

Ann Curthoys AM, FASSA, FAHA has written extensively about race, class and gender in Australian history, with an interest in both its British imperial contexts and its American, especially African American, connections. Influenced by her mother’s involvement in pro-Aboriginal political activism and her own participation in the 1965 Australian Freedom Ride, Curthoys established the Women’s Studies Program at the Australian National University, taught History at the University of Technology Sydney, and later returned to ANU where she became the Manning Clark Chair of History. She is now Professor Emerita at ANU, an honorary professor at the University of Sydney, and is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).