The 1936 film "Song of Freedom" stars Paul Robeson as an English dock worker who becomes an opera singer and later the king of an African island. Paul always wear an old medallion and knows an old song which an explorer identifies as coming from the African island country of Casanga. Paul and his wife Elizabeth visit the island and are confronted by a witch doctor. They manage to overcome the doctor and arrange to bring modern medical and other technology to the natives. The medallion appears in two versions, one in AD 1700 and one with more wear and damage in the modern 1934 period.

The film begins with an African prologue:

The evil queen appears and so does the medallion.

A woman steals the medal, escapes into the jungle followed by a male friend.

The medal appears as it exists in AD 1700:

The medal inscription is discussed later. The man and woman are taken by a slave ship and sent to England. Scenes of several generations possessing the medal are shown. In modern England John Zinga is a London dock worker who is married to Elizabeth. He sometimes sings in local pubs.

Gabriel Donozetti, an opera impresario, hears John and offers to train and promote him as a professional entertainer. John accepts because the money will enable him to visit Africa which he has always wanted to do.

Eventually John becomes a popular singer, sometimes appearing in operas. One night John sings a song which he has known since he was a child and which he calls the "Song of Freedom." A patron approaches John and tells him that he recognizes the song from his days as an explorer.

The patron looks at the medal and tells John that both the song and the medal come from the African island of Casanga where both would identify John as a native king. The man turns the medal over which shows both sides of the medal. The following image shows merged obverse and reverse images of the medal.

The images have been resized and merged into one picture.

The medal appears to be around three inches (7.5 cm) wide. This version is more worn than the one shown in AD 1700. The obverse has the head of a man facing left and the inscription: ZINGA I REX CASANGA ET NIB FIDEI:DEFENS ATRIV: The reverse has only an inscription: QUO ME TATA VOCANT

The approximate English meanings of the Latin inscriptions are: Obverse: Zinga I King of Casanga and NIB, Defender of the Faith, Africa
Reverse: Where Destiny Takes Me

John and Elizabeth leave for Africa and Casanga.

The African scenes were filmed in the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), in 1936 a French colony.

John and Elizabeth arrive in Casanga, John shows his medal to the natives, and offers to provide modern medicine and technology. The natives, led by Endobo, the witch doctor, do not want any of it.

John manages to recruit a few residents but Endobo manages to trick John and Elizabeth into violating a local custom, for which the penalty is death.

John begins singing the "Song of Freedom."

The natives recognize the song, free John and Elizabeth and depose the witch doctor, and the pair arrange to live in Casanga but John will occasionally perform in England to raise money for the needs of the people.

Paul Robeson as John 'Johnny' Zinga
Elizabeth Welch as Ruth Zinga
Esme Percy as Gabriel Donozetti
Arthur Williams as Endobo, the Witch Doctor
James Solomon as Native Leader
Director: J. Elder Wills
Writers: Ingram D'Abbes, Fenn Sherie, Claude Wallace, Dorothy Holloway