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Quick Facts
- NAME: Paul Robeson
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Actor, Football Player, Lawyer, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: April 09, 1898
- DEATH DATE: January 23, 1976
- EDUCATION: Rutgers University, Columbia University Law School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Princeton, New Jersey
- PLACE OF DEATH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Full Name: Paul Leroy Robeson
- AKA: Paul Robeson
Best Known For
Paul Robeson was an acclaimed 20th century performer known for productions like The Emperor Jones and Othello. He was also an international activist.
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Play NowPaul Leroy Robeson. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:00, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451.
Paul Leroy Robeson. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Paul Leroy Robeson." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 08:00 http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451.
"Paul Leroy Robeson," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Paul Leroy Robeson," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Paul Leroy Robeson [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451.
Paul Leroy Robeson, http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Paul Leroy Robeson. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, Paul Robeson went on to become a stellar athlete and performing artist. He starred in both stage and film versions of The Emperor Jones and Show Boat, and established an immensely popular screen and singing career. Robeson spoke out against racism and became a world activist,
Contents
Quotes
"My father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay right here and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it."
"The essential character of a nation is determined not by the upper classes, but by the common people, and that the common people of all nations are truly brothers in the great family of mankind."
"Whether I am or not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights."
"The artist must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice."
yet was blacklisted during the paranoia of McCarthyism in the 1950s. He died in Pennsylvania in 1976.
Star Athlete and Academic
Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, to Anna Louisa and William Drew Robeson. Robeson's mother died from a fire when he was 6 and his clergyman father moved the family to Somerville, where the youngster excelled in academics and sang in church.
When he was 17, Robeson earned a scholarship to attend Rutgers University, the third African American to do so, and became one of the institution's most stellar students. He received top honors for his debate and oratory skills, won 15 letters in four varsity sports, was elected Phi Betta Kappa and became his class valedictorian.
Then, from 1920 to 1923, Robeson earned a degree from Columbia University's Law School, teaching Latin and playing professional football on the weekends to pay tuition. In 1921, he wed fellow Columbia student, journalist Eslanda Goode. The two would be married for more than 40 years and have a son together in 1927, Paul Robeson Jr.
Robeson briefly worked as a lawyer in 1923, but left after encountering severe racism at his firm. With the encouragement of Eslanda, who would become his manager, he turned fully to the stage.
Major Force on Stage and Screen
In 1924, Robeson played the lead in the production All God's Chillun Got Wings, and the following year, he starred in the London staging of The Emperor Jones—both by playwright Eugene O'Neill. Robeson also entered film when he starred in African-American director Oscar Micheaux's 1925 work, Body and Soul. Robeson continued to make waves in London in 1928 with his star turn on stage in Showboat, where he brought the house down with "Ol' Man River," a song that would become his signature.
In the late 1920s, Robeson and his family relocated to Europe, where they lived for more than a decade. He established both a singing and film career, and his next big-screen feature was 1930's Borderline. He was also in the 1933 movie re-make of The Emperor Jones and would be featured in six British films over the next few years, including the desert drama Jericho and musical Big Fella, both released in 1937. During this period, Robeson also starred in the second big-screen adaptation of Show Boat (1936). His last movie would be the Hollywood production Tales of Manhattan (1942), which he critiqued for its demeaning portrayal of African Americans.
Activism and a Curtailed Career
A beloved international figure, Robeson regularly spoke out against racial injustice and was involved in world politics.
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African-American Expats
View groupMany African-Americans left their country to escape the confines of racism, segregation and McCarthyism in the United States. As a result, an entirely new African-American subculture sprouted up in Europe, Africa and other countries abroad. A street in Paris is named after Josephine Baker, who found acceptance and fame in France that she couldn't achieve in the still-segregated United States. Marcus Garvey was a leader of the Back-to-Africa movement. And singer Nina Simone lived in several different countries, including Liberia, Switzerland, England and Barbados before eventually settling down in the South of France. Find out more about these African-American expats, and the new lives they made for themselves abroad, on Biography.com.
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Blacklisted
View groupIn the 1940s and 1950s, the United States was in the grips of a "red scare." Many prominent individuals suspected of sympathizing with liberal or humanitarian causes were branded a communist threat, and even accused of espionage. Hollywood was a major focus of the accusations, and after 10 actors refused to testify in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, the blacklist was created. Hundreds of actors, actresses, directors, screenwriters and other entertainment professionals were barred from working. Here are some of the famous people who were on the Hollywood blacklist.
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