England had no color bar

"Rathebe talked fascinatingly about his travels. He had been to England and America. And we never tired of hearing him tell of his experiences. In England he had lived in the homes of white people, had sat at table with them! England had no color bar. A man could go where he pleased when he pleased. A man was just a man. Of course, people had looked. He was different. But there was no color bar. And he had met Negroes living in England. They had made it their home. Why, the great Paul Robeson lived there!

"But Harlem! Harlem . . . the city of Negroes. A city within a city: not a suburb, not a location, not a slum area, a city . . . We hung on his words; words spoken in an easy, subdued manner stirred our hearts and minds, and led us to wild dreams."

~~ from Tell Freedom: Memories of Africa by Peter Abrahams