Paul Robeson’s theatrical career began while he attended Somerville High School. His music teacher and English teacher paid close attention in training his voice and development as a speaker and debater. His first High School acting experience was the portrayal of Othello.
1921
Paul acted in the title role in Simon the Cyremian at the Harlem YMCA. His performance caught the eye of several experienced theatre personalities.
1922
Paul Robeson made his professional acting debut in Taboo at the Sam Harris theatre. Paul starred in a British production of the play renamed Voodoo, opposite the legendary English actress Mrs Patrick Campbell.
1924
Robeson debuted the lead role of Eugene O’ Neill’s All God’s Chillun got Wings in Greenwich Village. A white actress Mary Blair portrayed Robeson’s wife, causing a media uproar.
1930
Paul Robeson’s portrayal of a title role in a London production of Shakespeare’s Othello. It received reviews ranging from ‘magnificent’ to ‘disappointing.’ There was a debate as to who Shakespeare truly intended the title character to be in terms of physical appearance. Othello was described by the Bard as a Moorish general serving the city-state of Venice. Robeson found the role the most fulfilling of his career.
1933
Robeson starred in his first talkie, Paramount's The Emperor Jones, Robeson’s opening night performance of Emperor Jones brought the audience to its feet with cheers of 12 encores.
1934
Robeson starred as the African Chief Borambo in Sanders of the River. Confident that the film will further "understanding of Negro culture and customs." He was bitterly disappointed, when the film was only a homage to British imperialism that displayed Africans as savage children.
1935
Two plays Basalik and Stevedore. The roles were socially useful and respectful of blacks. He completed the lavish Hollywood production of Slow Boat.
1936
Robeson was able to incorporate his new values into two films Song of Freedom, and King Solomon.
1937
Jericho was filmed in Egypt.
1942
The film Tales of Manhattan, in which his portrayal of a black share cropper seems condescending, led Paul to announce that he will no longer act in Hollywood movies. Robeson played a repeat of Othello. Paul caused such a sensation that ‘Variety’ declared ‘no white man should even dare to presume’ to play the role again.
1943
Othello opened in Broadway, with Robeson in the lead role, the show was hailed as a milestone in race relations.
1959
Paul traveled to Stratford to star in Othello. It was a successful production.
Birth
Paul Leroy Robeson, the youngest of five children was born to Rev William Drew and Maria Louisa Robeson on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey. Paul’s father was a runaway slave who later graduated from Lincoln University. His mother, a school teacher belonged to the free abolitionist Quaker family, descendants of African Bantker lines.
William Robeson was a pastor at St Luke’s AME Zion Church in New Jersey. He had a tremendous influence on Paul’s character. "I loved him like no one in all the world." Robeson took pride in his father, who, in servility also lived with dignity. At the age of 15, when he could no longer endure slavery, he ran away to North. He started his free life with Robeson as his surname, the surname of his former master down south. William was a pastor at the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton until 1901, when after a factional dispute among the members he was removed after two decades of service. He was forced to start life anew. He became an ashman, coachman, yet was still the dignified person. He did not complain about poverty or misfortune, and he bore the cross without bitterness.
Robeson’s father being a pastor served as bridge between the haves and the have nots, and served his flock in many worldly ways, seeking work for the jobless, money for the needy, and mercy from the law for others.
Family Bond
Paul had four siblings, William, who became a doctor; Reeve, who became a businessman;Benjamin, who became a priest; and Marion wend on to become a teacher. The Robeson children were brought up in trying times, but they were always taught the strength of character. Both the mother and father tried to bring spiritual awareness into children. The tragic event of loss of the mother occurred when Paul was just about six years old. Maria was accidentally burned to death when a coal fell on her long skirted dress and her dress caught fire. She could not be saved. At almost the same time, William Robeson lost his ministry. The Robeson children had to depend on the help of the generous relatives to a certain extent. William Robeson also fought the circumstances and brought up the kids in the best possible way with his limited income. They shifted to Westfield and William worked there in a grocery store. Even Paul joined him there and before going to school he would often go to deliver grocery for their landlady. With the help of Paul and his brother Ben, the reverend built a tiny church and started ministering a small flock.
William was a great source of inspiration and strength to Paul. He respected his father beyond any limits, "I loved my 'Pop' like no one in the world. I adored him, would have given my life for him... I know he would say, 'Stand firm, son. Stand by your beliefs, your principles.' " Once, when Paul was 10, his father asked him to do some work which he didn't do. When his father asked about the work, Paul ran out without answering. William followed him and stumbled down, breaking his tooth. Paul turned back and saw the bleeding mouth of his father. He could never forgive himself for the pain he caused his father. Since that day a sense of self-discipline took over him. Then onwards, he always thought of his father and his reaction before making any decision or taking any step.
Education
Princeton comprised mainly of whites, and the Negro community served the rich as menial servants. Some of them were his relatives. In school, the Negroes were segregated and barred from studying in high school. Robeson’s brother Bill had to travel 11 miles to attend high school. Negroes were also not allowed to attend university but a few could attend divinity school.
Paul studied at a school for colored children run by James L Jamison, a revolutionary and reformer. He stressed the need to educate the Negro children for the betterment of their coming generations. Paul was the tallest boy of the class and was head of the class. In 1910, they moved to Somerville where William became the pastor of St Thomas AM Iion church. Paul attended Somerville High School and graduated in 1915. There were only two Negro boys in the class of all whites. His early school days at Somerville were full of stress and humiliations. Being a Negro, he had to observe many a Dos and Don'ts. At the same time, the urge to prove himself against the white classmates demanded tiresome extra hours of study. William also instilled the desire to excel in Paul. He inspired and encouraged Paul to get the top rank. This was a sure way to win respect from his fellow students as well as a moral booster in the times of Reconstruction.
William's main concern was the education of his children and he did his best to provide them for that. But Paul earned his education fees by working whatever hours he could manage. In summer vacations, he would work as a kitchen boy in a hotel throughout the day, with hardly a few hours sleep. His athletic body and pride for himself made way for him wherever he went. At school, he excelled in sports with his determination and pondering mind. The physical activity helped him bring out the piled up energy and emotions in a positive way.
His father’s training had groomed him to be polite and well mannered, which added to his overall persona. Above all he was good at studies, helped with chores, ran errands, tipped his hat to ladies, never smoked, nor drank, never missed Sunday School and got A’s in his report card. In high school, Robeson had to study Latin and Greek. His father was of great help because he was well versed in the classics of Virgil and Homer. Among the many white friends he had, was Douglas Brown, who later became the Dean of Princeton University.
He was welcomed into the school glee club. His music teacher Miss Vosseller took special interest in training his voice. His English teacher paid attention to his development as a speaker and introduced him to Shakespeare’s plays. His early days at school saw a nervous and scared boy frightened of his father’s ear for perfect diction. His Latin and chemistry teachers had no taint of racial prejudice and made him feel welcome and at ease in the school’s social life. Robeson shied away because he was aware of the gap prevalent between the whites and Negroes.
As a boy at school, he always tried to ‘act right’. "I would measure myself only against my own potential and not see myself in competition with anyone else," he once said. In spite of all his abilities, he felt that his high school principal Dr. Ackerman hated him. "The better I did the worse his scorn." According to Robeson, the principal never spoke unless it was to rebuke him. Robeson was always late to school because he lived close to school. 'Early to bed and early and rise' was always a hard rule for him to keep and sometimes misjudged the few minutes needed to get up and reach the class in time. "Like a watchful hawk, Dr. Ackerman would pounce on me, and his sharp words were meant to make me feel as miserably inferior as he thought a Negro was."
When Robeson was 17, in the final year he came to know of a competitive examination open to all students in New Jersey. The prize was a four-year scholarship to Rutgers College. It was one of the oldest colleges in America and was considered rather exclusive. Negroes were admitted once or twice in its history, but no one had attended for a prolonged period.
Robeson’s aim to win the scholarship was to ease the financial strain on his father’s modest income. Robeson had failed to take the preliminary test the previous year. Covering the subjects studied in the first three years of high school, he appeared for the exams of the entire four-year course, to win the scholarship, which was a decisive point in his life.
Rutgers College
Robeson joined the Rutgers College in 1895 as only the third African student in its history. Robeson brought with him academic and athletic experience.
Another pre-graduate experience with his future alma mater occurred during Paul’s senior year. He participated in a statewide oratorical contest. Paul chose to recite a famous abolitionist oration by Wendell Phillips. It was a tribute to the Haitian patriot Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the liberation of Haiti from Napoleonic rule. The contest was held on the campus of Rutgers College, and the panel of all white judges awarded Paul third place.
In addition to all this Robeson was named a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar, and also belonged to the Cap and Skull Honor Society, and graduate valedictorian of his class in 1919.
Trying out for the varsity team in Rutgers College in 1915, Robeson had his nose broken by players who didn’t want a black in their team. In the next practice, Robeson threatened to break one player’s back until the coach screamed that he had made it to the team. Such was his determination.
In 1917, Paul found himself in the All–American team. The legendary Yale coach Walter Camp called him ‘a veritable superman’. In Rutgers, Paul won 15 varsity letters in four sports – football, baseball, basketball and track. More than the playfield, Robeson shone as a star scholar, orator and singer and was elected to the honor societies. In 1918, his father died at the age of 73, extracting from his son the promise that he would fulfill his commitment to compete in an upcoming oratorical contest. Paul Robeson kept his promise, though somber and steeped in grief, he delivered an address on the inadequate educational opportunities for blacks. He was awarded the first prize in each of his four years in Rutgers.
As a valedictorian, he delivered the commencement oration, a stirring speech called ‘The New Idealism’ in which he exhorted the mostly white crowd to fight for an ideal government where "Character shall be standard of excellence" and "black and white shall clasp friendly hands in the consciousness of the fact that we are brethren and that God is the father of us all."
He met Lawrence Brown
New York Life
He went to study law at Columbia in New York and received his degree in 1923. There he met and married Eslanda Cardozo Goode, the first black woman to head a pathology laboratory. Robeson worked as a law clerk in New York, but once again faced discrimination and soon left the practice because a white secretary refused to take dictation from him.
All such hurdles made him return to his childhood love of drama and singing to promote African and Afro–American history and culture. Robeson appealed to Otto H Kahn – a wealthy banker, Rutgers trustee and patron of the arts, for help in getting theatrical work.
Robeson Steps into The World of Drama and Art
In May 1924, despite threats of rioting and bombs, Robeson made a debut in the lead role of Eugene O’Neill’s All God’s Chillun got Wings in Greenwich Village. It caused a media uproar because a white actress Mary Blair co-starred with him.
Paul played the lead role in The Emperor Jones and sang his first formal concert. He also starred in his first film, Oscar Micheanx’s Body and Soul. Robeson emerged, in the words of critic Richard Benchley, "as one of the artists to whom his race may point with pride".
He had met Lawrence Brown, a pianist, composer and music historian at a London concert. The duo shared a level ground of interest and immediately a lifelong friendship took place. In 1925, He appointed Brown as his accompanist and arranger. The association was beginning of a four decades long friendship on the stage. It was Brown who introduced him to folk music and European classical music. A song concert with Brown launched Robeson to fame. It led him to sing and produce albums. The stereotyped format of films made him refuse a role in Lulu Belle. Robeson earned a patron for his musical career with a $5,000 loan. Appearing in the open night of a London production of the Emperor Jones, Robeson was called back for 12 orations. Essie, his wife, wrote that in London unlike New York, they could "as respectable human beings, dine at any public place".
Robeson’s concert tours took him to Wisconsin, where he was provided separate hotel accommodation. His Black Boy received lukewarm review but the critics praised him saying that he was "towering high above the play".
His next tour took him to Europe, where his only son Paul Robeson Jr was born.
His next venture in New York, The Show Boat created ripples because with his baritone voice he was able to change the lines of a slave lament into a song of black resistance.
Political Activism
Robeson discovered the rich cultural heritage of the blacks and began to get much involved in it. The British secret service came to warn him.
He took his activism outside the country, singing Jewish resistance songs in Moscow and marching at Union rallies in London and Paris. In New York he was met with stiff resistance. Stone throwing mobs injured many. Seeger said, "He possessed one of the most fundamental and elusive human qualities in anyone I have ever met. He had pure courage. Younger Robeson calls their beginning of calculated institutionalized attempt to make his father an ‘unperson’."
Robeson's political activism rarely impinged on his home life in Enfield. His family lived in a stately pillared mansion called "The Beeches'. His son attended Enfield High School as a sophomore. The house was complete with a bowling alley and swimming pool. The house was their prized possession. "My mother fell in love with the house and my father fell in love with the price", said Robeson Jr. It was on the front lawn of this house that Robeson taught his son the values of slave culture and football – and how they mixed.
The government succeeded to a large extent in depriving him of his career, his fame and his identity. Countries around the world celebrated Paul Robeson's 60 th birthday and declared March 17, as ‘Paul Robeson Day'. His autobiography Here I Stand was published. The next year Robeson participated in the New Year Ball hosted by Krushchev.
The Ebb
Robeson was in and out of hospitals. At first he was hospitalized for exhaustion, then for emotional collapse and depression. Unsatisfied with his progress in London sanitarium he traveled to Berlin. Paul was diagnosed for Paget’s disease, a love disorder and Essie had terminal cancer. Essie’s condition was kept hidden from Paul and the pair returned to the US after five years abroad. By June, Paul suffered a setback and was flown to New York and hospitalized. He nearly died of double pneumonia. Essie died two days before her 70th birthday.
Paul moved to Philadelphia, home of his sister Marian Robeson Firsythe, a 71-year-old retired school teacher, who cared for her invalid brother devotedly. Robeson’s health deteriorated. His treatment in London did not help and he was taken to Berlin. He spent his last years of his life in seclusion.
At the 75th birthday celebration, Rutgers held a symposium on Robeson’s life. Robeson wrote, "I am a singer and an actor. I am primarily an artist. Had I been born in Africa, I would have belonged, I hope, to the family, which sings and chants the glories and legends of the tribe."
After two strokes in less than a month, Paul Robeson died at the age of 77 in Philadelphia on January 23, 1976. At his funeral, 5,000 mourners listened to recorded spirituals, sung in Robeson’s rich baritone, as his closed casket was carried out of his brother Ben’s church into a cold Harlem rain.
A national campaign for the issuance of a US postal stamp honoring Paul Robeson on the centennial of his birth saw a collection of over 90,000 signatures and thousands of letters in support there off.
An article, written by chronicle staff writer Maitland Jane was a response to the growing national movement to honor Paul Robeson as a world famous artist, scholar and courageous freedom fighter. Also a large picture of Robeson holding the Stalin Peace Prize was installed at a prominent place. On his epitaph is written, "Robeson coming out of the heart and soul of Black folk and like other unsung heroes of our working class, is the best gift our people ever gave to progressive humanity."
Stage actor, singer, political activist, Paul Robeson studied at the Rutgers University and excelled in All American football team.
Robeson’s scrupulous diction helped him further his career in the dramatic field. The depiction of Othello was his crowing glory. He possessed a resonant voice, which enthralled the audience. On the same stage he promoted his political career.
Being a black, he was aware of the degrading situation in which they lived. He was a great admirer of the Soviet Union because Negroes were treated there with dignity.
His support to the Communist Soviet Union made him an outlaw. In his own country, axe fell upon his musical career and Stalin’s atrocities was a big blow to him. All these ultimately costed his life.
Mortin Bauml Duberman, a history professor at Lehman College says,
"There is no question that he was one of the giants of 20th century American history, but he is also one of the giants about whom the least is still known."
April 9, 1898
Paul Leroy Robeson, born to Rev William Drew and Maria Louisa, in Princeton, USA.
1904
Lost his mother, when her clothes caught fire over a coal stove.
1906
Rev Robeson joined the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion Church.
1907
The Robeson family moved to Westfield, where Paul attended an integrated public school for the first time.
1910
At Somerville, young Paul began to show his prodigious talent for scholarship, music, oratory, and athletics, and became a popular boy known for his courteous, respectful, and unfailingly pleasant demeanor.
1912
Paul entered Somerville High School, realizing that his talents gave him admittance to – but not full acceptance in – the white world.
1915
Paul won a four-year scholarship to Rutgers in a statewide written competition.
1917
Legendary Yale coach Walter Camp put Robeson on his All-American team, calling him a veritable superman.
1918
Paul became Rutgers’ star scholar, orator, and singer and was elected to the honor societies. Robeson was one of only four classmates admitted to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year.
In May, his father died at the age of 73. Days later, Robeson, steeped in grief, delivered an address on the inadequate educational opportunities for blacks and took the first prize in the contest as he did during each of his four years at Rutgers, fulfilling his father’s promise.
1919
In his senior year, Robeson, as one of four men who best represented the ideals of Rutgers, was chosen for Cap and Skull Honor Society.
1920
During a game with the Akron Pros, he sustained a serious injury on his thigh and was rushed to New York’s Presbyterian Hospital where he met Eslanda "Essie" Goode, a pathology technician, his future wife.
August 17, 1921
Married Essie.
1923
Robeson resigned from New York Law office, ending his law career and the actor became a star.
1925
Robeson refused a role in the play Lulu Belle because of its stereotyped format.
1926
Concert tours from January to March took Robeson as far as Green Bay, Wisconsin; in many cities where he was denied hotel accommodations.
Paul voiced his frustration at the scarcity of roles for black actors.
1927
Birth of Paul Robeson Jr, the only child.
1929
In England, repercussions are felt all the way to Parliament when Essie and Paul were refused admittance to the posh Savoy Grill.
In November, he returned to the States to begin a two-month concert tour across the continent, including a stop at Rutgers, where the crowd greeted at the concert with the college yells and cheers for "Robey."
1930
Essie published a biography of her husband, Paul Robeson, Negro.
1931
After a three-month concert tour of the States and rehearsals for The Hairy Ape in London, Robeson fell ill with a nervous disorder and was bedridden for a week – the first incarnation of the depressive disorder that would shadow his life.
1933
Robeson became more focused on race and African culture, threw himself into the study of African languages and history.
1934
Robeson declared publicly that Nazi oppression of the Jews was the most retrograde step the world had seen for centuries. Invited by filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein to visit the Soviet Union.
1935
A whirlwind tour of the Soviet Union, when Robeson contemplated resettling his family in the Socialist nation.
1936
Robeson threw himself into the study of socialist and Africanist writings.
1938
The Robesons befriended Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian independence leader, and Paul made dozens of political appearances.
1939
In September, Hitler plunged Europe into war, and the Robesons flee London for home.
1940
In January, Robeson recorded Ballad for Americans, a patriotic song that had caused a sensation when performed on live radio the previous fall; the record topped the charts.
1941
Robeson became chair of the CAA, and the FBI, suspecting Robeson to be a member of the Communist Party, placed him under surveillance.
1942
The HUAC includes Robeson on a list of presumed Communists.
1943
The FBI, labeled him a leading Communist and issued a custodial detention card that allowed his immediate arrest in a national emergency.
1946
Robeson called before HUAC, where he denied that he was a Communist, characterizing himself as "an anti-fascist and an independent."
1947
In April, the city council of Peoria, Illinois, refused to let Robeson sing; in Albany, New York, the board of education followed suit.
1948
At the nominating convention of the new Progressive Party, Robeson declined call for the vice presidency.
1949
When 85 concerts in the US were canceled by worried booking agents, Robeson took his four-month concert tour to England.
1950
In March, Robeson became the first American banned from TV when NBC stopped his appearance on Today with Mrs. Roosevelt. Robeson was asked to give up his passport after he denounced the Korean War.
1951
In December, as a representative of the Civil Rights Congress, Paul presented a petition to the United Nations, charging the United States with genocide against blacks.
1952
Robeson placed a 17-minute phone call from Seattle, which was relayed to the workers via a public-address system.
1953
Blacklisted by recording companies, Robeson found his own and recorded two albums, Paul Robeson Sings and Solid Rock.
1955
In May and July, Robeson applied for the reinstatement of his passport; both requests denied. That fall, Paul underwent surgery for a prostate condition, and Essie had a radical mastectomy; they recuperated together in Harlem.
1956
In March, after Krushchev outlined Stalin’s crimes against humanity, Robeson suffered an emotional collapse.
In November, the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of his passport suit.
1957
Singing by telephone to assemblies in London and Wales, Paul continued to circumvent passport restrictions. The State Department granted a concession – Paul could travel places that did not require passports of US citizens.
1958
Countries around the world celebrated Robeson’s 60th birthday, including India, which declared March 17 a "Paul Robeson Day".
During a spring "comeback" concert tour, Robeson received heartening receptions from black communities.
His autobiography, Here I Stand, published.
In June, a Supreme Court decision forced the State Department to return his passport. Jubilant, Paul departed for London, where he was greeted enthusiastically and then to Moscow, where he was greeted tumultuously.
1959
The new year was rung in by the Robesons at a Kremlin gala ball hosted by Krushchev. Twelve days later, both the Robesons were hospitalized, Paul for exhaustion, Essie for radium treatments.
1960
For the first nine months of the year, the Robesons seesawed between Russia and England, attending political functions, labor rallies, radio broadcasts, and award ceremonies.
In October, he and lifelong accompanist Brown departed on their last concert tour, of Australia and New Zealand.
1961
On a visit to Moscow, Robeson suffered an emotional collapse and was hospitalized for several months. Throughout the year and into the next, he recovered and relapsed, and was hospitalized in Moscow and London, the diagnoses ranging from exhaustion to chronic depression.
1962
In June, still hospitalized in London, and with his passport about to expire, Robeson bowed to pressure and sweared in an affidavit that he was not a Communist Party member so that he could remain in England.
1963
Paul was diagnosed with Paget’s disease, a bone disorder, and Essie with terminal cancer at a Berlin Clinic.
1965
In April and May, he made several public appearances, singing at a small church in Los Angeles. By June, Paul suffered a setback and was flown to New York and hospitalized. That August, Essie was told she had only months to live. Days later, Paul nearly died from double pneumonia.
On December 13, Essie died.
1966
Paul moved to the Philadelphia home of his sister, Marian Robeson Forsythe.
1973
In April, in celebration of his 75th birthday, Rutgers held a symposium on Robeson’s life, and Paul, Jr., organized a "Salute to Paul Robeson" at Carnegie Hall.
1976
After two strokes in less than a month, Paul Robeson, 77, died in Philadelphia on January 23.
• The glory of my boyhood years was my father. I loved him like no one in all the world.
• He who comes hat-in-hand is expected to bow and bend, and so I marvel that there is no hint of servility in my father’s make-up. Just as in youth he had refused to remain a slave, so in all his years of manhood, he disdained to be an Uncle Tom. From him we learned and never doubted it, that the Negro is in every way the equal of a white man.
• Loyalty to convictions that I chose this topic was not accidental, for that was the text of my father’s life – loyalty to one’s convictions. Unbending despite anything. From my youngest days I was imbued with that concept.
• In a rally for the anti-fascist force – the artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.
• To be fire – to walk the good American earth as equal citizens, to live without fear, to enjoy the fruits of our toil, to give our children every opportunity in life – that dream, which we have held so long in our hearts is today the destiny that we hold in our hands.
• I’m going to sing wherever the people want me to sing…and I won’t be frightened by crosses burning in Peekskills or anywhere else.
• His treatment in Soviet Union – "Here I feel for the first time as a person, here I am no black, but person."
• In the trenches of Madrid when he felt the force of international solidarity he said in his biography – "My heart was fulfilled with admiration and love for these white Americans, and I felt a big pride for my own people, when I also discovered black among the Lincoln-men in Spain. Some of them were buried together with mine own home and I knew in my heart that I would return one day there."
• Learned that 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 am not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies may enjoy their constitutional rights.
• All people are not nearly as different from one another as textbooks would have it.
• Like every true artist I have longed to see my talent contributing in an unmistakably clear manner to the cause of humanity.
• Paul Robeson in an interview in New York, quoted in the ‘Whole World in his Hands’ – "I feel closer to my country than ever. There is no longer a feeling of lonesome isolation, instead peace. I return without fearing prejudice that once bothered me…. I have learned that my people are not the only ones oppressed."
• I stand here struggling for the rights of my people to be full citizens in this country and they are not. They are not in Mississippi and they are not…in Washington.
• In a radio broadcast – "Every artist, every scientist, must decide now where he stands. He has no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers."
• Let the various social systems compete with one another under conditions of peaceful coexistence and the people can decide for themselves.
• Othello in the Venice of the time was in practically the same position as a colored man in America today.
• I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of fear. My weapons are peaceful for it is only by peace that peace can be attained. The song of freedom must prevail.
As a youth he excelled in both scholastics and athletics. Robeson received a scholarship to Rutgers College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his jury year and chosen valedictorian in his senior years.
He earned variety letters in four sports and was named Rutgers first All-American in football. In 1939, Badge of Veterans of Abraham Lincoln Brigade was awarded.
1942
He received a citation from the Secretary of the Treasury for "distinguished and patriotic service to our country."
1944
Robeson received the Donaldson Award for his outstanding performance in Othello.
1945
At a ceremony in the Biltmore Hotel, Paul received the Springarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor.
1950
He was awarded the Champion of African Freedom Award, National Church of Nigeria. Afro-American Newspapers Award.
1952
He won the Stalin Peace Prize.
1960
Peace Medal, East Germany.
1970
Civil Liberties Award
1972
Duke Ellington Medal – Yale University and honorary degrees from Rutgers University. A Grammy was awarded posthumously for his life’s work.
1995
19 years after his death, Paul Robeson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
1998 Robeson’s Biography – by Martin Schwander with a foreword by Romesh Chandra was published.
