Eslanda the large and unconventional life of mrs paul robeson ransby barbara 9780300124347 books amazonca. Eslanda the large and unconventional life of mrs paul robeson ransby barbara 9780300205855 books amazonca. Born into a middle class family and married to paul robeson one of the most famous black personalities of the twentieth century eslanda cardozo goode robeson was determined to make her mark on the world barbara ransby has rescued eslanda from the shadow of her famous husband and placed her in proper perspective as a black radical female activist a scholar and a critic ransby describes . 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 stalins russia and china two months after maos revolution. Eslanda might have used her title as mrs paul robeson to open doors however a smart pragmatic and fiercely independent woman walked through them p 279 despite a couple of minor quibbles laurence olivier did not co star with robeson in othello in 1959 for instance ransbys biography is a vital contribution to the historical record p 250