Description

John Zinga (Paul Robeson) is a working class Londoner who finds sudden fame as an opera singer. But a discovery that he descends from African royalty leads to an identity crisis, and he’s compelled to give up success and return to his roots in Africa. Once there, he assumes leadership of his ancestors’ tribe, but his endeavors to modernize them are not met kindly by the superstitious natives and local witch doctors. The film was a huge success in the UK but not in the US. However, in 1950, it was shown at the opening of the convention of Ghana’s Peoples Party, the ceremonies for which were presided over by Robeson’s British friend Kwame Nkrumah, who would go on to become the first Prime Minister of independent Ghana.