chunkyfrog wrote:Sometimes ex-pats find success abroad that was denied them at home.
I think of Paul Robeson, who fled America to escape racism and find recognition elsewhere.
You are repeating something that you read which is a distortion of Robeson's life.
While Robeson and his family certainly experienced racism in their hometowns of Princeton and Somerville, NJ and later Robeson at Rutgers, he did not go to London to escape it. He got a good offer from London and did well there despite the racism he experienced in London.
When he returned to the U.S. his singing skills had improved and the U.S. provided a fertile ground for recording and distributing his singing.
Although it has some significant errors, Lloyd Brown's book on Robeson is a good source and definitely does not have the spin Duberman put in the biography he published recently.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh9WayN7R-s
Have a good day!