Paul Robeson Collection

Paul Robeson was born April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, the youngest son of the Rev. William D. Robeson, who was born a slave. Robeson's mother was a teacher and died when he was five. Robeson entered Rutgers University on a scholarship in 1915 earned with high grades from Somerville High School. The third black student at Rutgers and the first black football player at the school, Robeson became a 12-letter athlete (including Baseball, Basketball, Track, and Football) and a collegiate football All-American. Also earning academic and oratorical honors at Rutgers, Robeson was named a Phi Beta Kappa scholar and graduated with honors in the class of 1919, where he delivered one of the graduation speeches at commencement. He participated in singing at local events while at Rutgers, and he expressed concern for his race and called for cooperation between whites and blacks during this same period. In addition to his athletic activities, Robeson was also active in student clubs such as the Glee Club, Philoclean Society, and Cap and Skull.

Robeson studied law at Columbia Law School and received his LL.B. in 1923. During this time he was married, introduced to the theater, and made his first New York stage appearance (1922). Choosing acting over the practice of law, he starred in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings in 1924, creating the role. The racial subject matter of the play spurred controversy and protest. The same year he starred in O'Neill's Emperor Jones on Broadway and appeared in his first film, Body and Soul, by the independent black filmmaker, Oscar Micheaux.

Writing in 1929 about his accomplishments, Robeson noted that he was the "first Negro to give program(s) of all-Negro music on (the) regular concert stage. First concert (was in) New York, 1925, and since (have) sung concerts in Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Germany, Paris, Holland, London, and all of England with enormous success." Robeson viewed his singing as enabling America to see African Americans in a new light, and he felt that hearing the Negro spirituals would promote racial understanding (Box 1, scrapbook 1). He became interested in the folk music of many countries.

Robeson succeeded on the stage, in film, and in concert halls, but experienced prejudice and racism. After finding a tolerant atmosphere in the Soviet Union, he became friendly with American communists and became an activist for blacks' rights. He was named by the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947, and the State Department denied him a passport until 1958 as a result. These events reflected the political climate and caused the end of his performing career in the U.S. After residing in England for five years, he returned to the United States where he lived out his last years in privacy, declining to attend belated public tributes. Paul Robeson died at age 77 in Philadelphia.