Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee

He opened nightclubs and led big bands in Harlem dancehalls, but swing virtuosos such as Duke Ellington outshone him. Finally, an almost chance audition in launched his career as a stage actor. Within two years he won a role in the Federal Theater Project's legendary all-black staging of Macbeth , directed by Orson Most users should sign in with their email address.

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Sign In Forgot password? Importantly, its unflattering portrayal of the boxing industry and its exploitative tendencies could easily be viewed as an indictment on the evils of capitalism. All persons involved in the movie would eventually fall foul of the impending McCarthyite purges and Garfield, like Lee, would meet an early death attributable to the coming storm. To say that Canada Lee was a naive dabbler in politics who may have been duped or led astray by seasoned political activists would be way off the mark.

He was much too independent minded to be anything other than his own man. He defiantly supported election candidates with Marxist leanings and refused to budge or tone down his invective about racial injustice. Rather, as was the case with Paul Robeson, he remained uncompromising about his convictions much to the cost of his career.

Canada Lee - Wikipedia

Offers dried up and friends and acquaintances, fearful of the guilty-by-association mores of the times, shunned him. What attracted Lee to far left politics? Like many African-Americans he would not have failed to notice that the left went further than white Liberals in the insistence on radical change in the legal, social and economic subjugation of blacks. Communist or communist associated groups for instance, had vociferously supported various anti-lynching campaigns and legal funds for black defendants such as the Scottsboro Boys.

Further than issues of race, Lee was fully aware that his opportunity of escaping from a possible life of poverty as a disabled, ex-pug was facilitated by the socialist-style policies engendered by Franklin D.

However, with the United States and Soviet Union allied in the cause of defeating Nazi Germany, this did not bear the ominous implications of the post-war period and the consequent descent into external 'Cold War' and the internal 'Witch hunts'. His name came up in the notorious spy trial involving Judith Coplon which was the first to implicate an American spying for the Soviet Union. Lee's name was listed among other stars including Edward G. The coup de grace was delivered by Lee's denunciation by his longtime friend, Ed Sullivan in his nationally syndicated column.

Interestingly, Lee's marginalising did not follow the conventional route.

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His name did not appear in the pamphlet Red Channels. Neither was he put in the position of having to refuse to testify against 'named' persons before HUAC. Still, he was blacklisted. The stress brought about by his blacklisting proved fatal, Lee succumbing to the effects of hypertension on May 9th Wrote Ossie Davis, "Canada Lee couldn't find a job anywhere and died of a broken heart. An outstanding biography of the now mostly forgotten pioneering actor and irrepressible civil rights and social justice activist whose life and career was destroyed by blacklisting in the McCarthy era.

Jul 24, Sowande' rated it really liked it. He lives an amazingly colorful life with contemporaries such as Langston Hughes, P.

Books: Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee

Robeson, Marlon Brandon, Charlie Chaplin yet nearing his death he is demonized and attacked by the anti-communist agenda. A powerful testimony of unshakable character, struggle, morality, and quite unexpectedly the essence of love. Feb 03, Asails F rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is a must read. I found it more than releveant to my families experience in the boxing world. Sep 06, Michelle rated it really liked it. Mar 01, Jaime Maldonado rated it really liked it.

Exposes gossip and slander as signs of weakness, malice, evil, fear May 24, Annie Garvey rated it really liked it. Canada Lee was an imperfect man, as we all are, but he tried to do right. He will not be forgotten. Feb 21, Jack rated it it was amazing Shelves: Feb 18, laudanum at 33 rated it really liked it. He personified the perpetual outsider who sees things as they are, speaking volumes with his silences in spite of what is being said or done around him.

If you're not familiar with the plot, it centers on a group of shipwrecked survivors on a lifeboat after a bombing. The group's behavior slowly devolves into selfishness, insanity and violence, but Lee's character is the only one who The first time I saw Canada Lee was in Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" and since then I haven't been able to forget him.

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The group's behavior slowly devolves into selfishness, insanity and violence, but Lee's character is the only one who remains steadfast and sane. He is also the only person of color on the boat, setting him apart in more ways than one. After seeing it, I had to find out more about him.

Instead I found nothing. He only had a few film credits to his name.

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• Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee!

Internet searches didn't unearth much. It was even difficult to find pictures of him. Nevertheless I still thought about him and looked forward to a time where there would be more information. Smith details why there's so little left of Lee in this biography, which painstakingly details his life from a low-class upbringing through a whirlwind of careers as a violinist, jockey, boxer, actor, producer and activist during his short life. His story ended in when he was 45 years old.

A quote from Donald Bogle explains it best: But when a black artist becomes important enough to want better roles His activities were deemed subversive enough for the HUAC to take an interest and label him a possible communist during the blacklist of the '50s. Like many others his career was dealt a devastating blow and never recovered.

In the following decades the excitement, acclaim and notoriety surrounding him faded to nearly nothing. He was hardly a footnote in history. Thanks to Smith, he has been resurrected, but I sincerely hope this book is just the beginning even though it was published nearly 14 years ago. He should be a household name. One of his co-stars remembered him thusly: DR - Canada Lee is one of my heroes. Catherine rated it liked it Apr 10, Nathan rated it really liked it Mar 23, Angela rated it it was amazing Jan 04, John rated it really liked it Jan 11, Myron rated it it was amazing Jun 06, JoAnne rated it it was amazing Jun 26, Scot Shepley rated it really liked it Dec 18, Johnson rated it it was amazing Apr 14, Annelisa rated it it was amazing Jan 25, Nicole rated it it was amazing Aug 15, Ej rated it it was amazing Sep 18, Herb marked it as to-read Feb 24, Joe marked it as to-read Sep 21, Denise Billings marked it as to-read Jun 12, BookDB marked it as to-read Nov 09, Kerstin marked it as to-read Nov 13, Diana marked it as to-read Jun 07, Danyeal is currently reading it Dec 30, Christy marked it as to-read May 05, Michelle marked it as to-read Aug 27, Soo Na marked it as to-read Mar 03, Ryann marked it as to-read Apr 20, Yasmin marked it as to-read Jun 11, Jim marked it as to-read Nov 08, Ronald Wilcox marked it as to-read Mar 09, Deborah marked it as to-read Sep 15, Josh marked it as to-read Jun 19, Love marked it as to-read Feb 04,