Paul Robeson
Early Years
Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey. His father, Rev. William Robeson, had escaped slavery in 1860 in North Carolina at age 15. His mother, Maria Bustill, was a teacher. Robeson's early life was marked by academic excellence and athletic prowess. When he was a high school senior, he won the statewide academic test and received a scholarship to Rutgers. As a first-year student at Rutgers College during fall 1915, Robeson was the sole African-American student on campus and only the third to be enrolled in the 149-year-old school.
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​When Robeson tried out for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team, his resolve to make the squad was tested as his teammates engaged in excessive play, during which his nose was broken, and his shoulder dislocated. Blessed with a dogged determination that would mark his entire career, Robeson persevered and made it onto the team. Despite, or perhaps because of, his unmatched talent, Robeson kept encountering various forms of racism, both subtle and overt. When a Southern team refused to take the field because the Scarlet Knights had fielded an African American, Robeson was benched.
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In addition to being an exceptional football player, Robeson possessed remarkable singing abilities. He secured a place in Rutger’s Glee Club, where, much like on the football field, he frequently encountered racism. As Martin Duberman, Robeson’s foremost biographer, has written: ‘His bass-baritone was the chief adornment of the glee club—but only at its home concerts; he was not invited to be a “traveling” member, and at Rutgers sang only with stipulation that he not attend social functions after the performance.’
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After a standout junior year of football, he was recognized in The Crisis for his athletic, academic, and singing talents. Robeson finished university with four annual oratorical triumphs and varsity letters in multiple sports. Academically, he was accepted into Phi Beta Kappa and Cap and Skull. His classmates elected him valedictorian and, in his speech on graduation day, Robeson exhorted his classmates to go forth and work for equality for all Americans.
Between 1920 and 1923, Robeson attended Columbia University's Law School, balancing his studies with teaching Latin and playing professional football on weekends to cover his tuition. In the winter of 1923, Robeson completed his law degree and secured a position as the sole Black attorney in the law office of a Rutgers alumnus in New York. However, he ultimately abandoned his legal career entirely after a stenographer refused to take dictation from him, reportedly expressing her prejudice with a racial slur.
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Road to World Fame
Following the end of his legal career, Robeson redirected his focus entirely towards the stage, spurred on by his wife and manager Eslanda. Swiftly establishing himself in the theater realm, he garnered praise for his leading roles in Eugene O'Neill's provocative "All God's Chillun Got Wings" in New York City in 1924 and "The Emperor Jones" in London the subsequent year. Delving further into the realm of entertainment, Robeson ventured into film, taking on a starring role in Oscar Micheaux's "Body and Soul" in 1925.
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In addition to his theatrical talents, Robeson possessed an extraordinary bass-baritone singing voice. His rendition of "Ol’ Man River" in the musical "Show Boat" catapulted him to worldwide recognition. Further acclaim followed for his portrayal of "Othello," both in London in 1930 and on Broadway in 1943, with the latter production setting a record for the longest run of a Shakespearean play on Broadway.
In the 1930s, Robeson traveled to the Soviet Union, where he deepened his appreciation for Russian folk culture and learned Russian. It was during this time that Robeson, perhaps with a touch of naivety, found himself deeply impressed by the egalitarian principles embedded within Soviet society. This admiration would, in time, be his downfall.
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Paul Robeson, "Othello"
Paul Robeson - Rare TV appearance 1960
Enemy of the State
In the early 1940s, Robeson's fame reached its pinnacle. Time Magazine described him as "probably the most famous living Negro," and a year later, over 8,500 people gathered at a public celebration of his forty-sixth birthday. A beloved international figure, Robeson used his platform to speak out against racial injustice and advocate for social and political causes. He supported Pan-Africanism, sang for Loyalist soldiers during the Spanish Civil War, marched in anti-Nazi demonstrations, and performed for Allied troops during World War II.
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As tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated after World War II, Robeson's involvement in leftist causes and his criticism of racial injustice in the United States drew the attention of anti-communist authorities.
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His visits to the Soviet Union and his praise for its social system further fueled suspicions about his political allegiance, resulting intense scrutiny from government agencies, including the FBI, which surveilled and monitored his activities closely.
In 1949, the witch hunt against Robeson escalated into a violence. In April of that year Paul Robeson traveled to France where he gave a speech at the Soviet Union-sponsored Paris Peace Conference. Robeson spoke about racial injustice in the United States and made the point that World War III was not inevitable, as many Americans did not want war with the Soviet Union. Prior to his appearance on stage, his speech had been transcribed and promptly sent back to the United States by the Associated Press. Within a day, journalists and politicians had condemned Robeson as a traitor to his country, accusing him of insinuating that black Americans would refuse to fight in the event of a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although historians would later find compelling evidence that Robeson had been misquoted, the damage had been done.
Later that year, it would become painfully clear that Robeson had been labelled an enemy of the state when he was scheduled to perform a concert in near the town of Peekskill, New York. The concert, set for August 27, turned violent as a local mob attacked concert-goers with baseball bats and rocks before Paul Robeson even arrived. Despite the chaos, local police arrived hours later and provided minimal intervention. Thirteen people suffered serious injuries, Robeson was lynched in effigy, and a burning cross was visible on a nearby hillside.
However, Paul Robeson was not a man to be silenced; six days later, he returned to perform in Peekskill, drawing a crowd of 20,000 attendees. Despite the presence of anti-Robeson protestors outside the venue, the concert proceeded as planned. Although Robeson performed without incident, the aftermath of the concert was far from peaceful. Fueled by racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-Communist sentiments, protesters attacked concertgoers, many of whom were African American or Jewish.
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Within a few days, hundreds of editorials and letters appeared in newspapers across the nation and abroad by prominent individuals, organizations, trade unions, churches and others. They condemned the attacks and the failure of the police to protect the concert-goers. Despite condemnation from progressives and civil rights activists, the mainstream press and local officials overwhelmingly blamed Robeson and his fans for "provoking" the so-called Peekskill Riots.
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Kinship among all Peoples
In 1950, Robeson’s passport was revoked, obstructing him from performing abroad and ruining his career. It took eight long years for his passport to be reinstated, after which he attempted to restart his career by performing in England and Australia. But the yearlong prosecution and relentless investigations had taken their toll. After several bouts of depression, he was admitted to a hospital in London, where he was administered continued shock treatments. When Robeson returned to the United States in 1963, he was misdiagnosed several times and treated for a variety of physical and psychological problems.
Realizing that he was no longer the powerful singer or agile orator of his prime, he decided to step out of the public eye. He retired to Philadelphia, where he lived in self-imposed seclusion until his death in 1976. During his funeral in Harlem, which was attended by thousands of his admirers, the pastor opened his statement with the following words:
‘We have come to this to memorialize an Ambassador of Justice and Equality. An Ambassador who stood as a giant in a society rocked by social prejudice. He possessed a universal philosophy which transmitted a kinship among all peoples. Through this he drew his basic concern for mutual respect and brotherly love.’