Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson was a bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and political activist. Robeson’s artistry brought Negro spirituals into the American mainstream, and he was among the first artists to refuse to perform for segregated audiences. 

He attended Rutgers College (B.A., 1919), where he was the only Black student, twice named an All-American in football, won Phi Beta Kappa honors, and served as class valedictorian; and Columbia Law School (LL.B., 1923), where he earned his degree while also appearing in theatrical productions and playing professional football. After ending a brief career as a lawyer due to racism, he became an important figure in the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1920s, he gained national recognition for his performances in the title role in Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones, and in All God’s Chillun Got Wings, as well as radio performances of spiritual music. He also built an international reputation in the 1920s with performances of Voodoo Emperor Jones, Show Boat, and Othello in London. He gained further attention in the films Sanders of the River (1935) and Show Boat (1936).

Alongside his performances, Robeson became increasingly involved with political activities, which included involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students in Britain, support for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War, and association with the Council on African Affairs, which he cofounded and chaired. In Harlem, from 1950–1955 he published the periodical Freedom, which was critical of U.S. policies. In 1952, he was awarded the Stalin International Peace Prize, conferred in New York by W. E. B. Du Bois on behalf of the USSR. His autobiography, Here I Stand, was published in 1958. Between 1925 and 1961, Robeson released recordings of some 276 songs, including Americana, spirituals, popular standards, classical music, European folk songs, political songs, poetry, and spoken excerpts from plays.