Paul+Robeson

Paul Robeson was born on April 09, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. His father, William Drew Robeson, was a runaway slave and then became the minister of a local Presbyterian church. His mother, Maria Louisa Bustill, was a schoolteacher. Maria died in 1904, when Paul was six-years-old. In 1915, when Paul was 17, he received a scholarship to Rutgers College. Paul was the third black person to be admitted to Rutgers College. Paul Robeson became the valedictorian. He also starred in four sports: track, football, baseball, and basketball. Paul was named the All-American football end. In college, Paul was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and the National College Honor Society. Paul was a very well rounded student. He was smart and excelled in many things. In 1919, Paul graduated from Columbia University. During college, in 1921, Paul married a student in his chemistry class at Columbia. Two years later, in 1923, Paul earned a law degree from Columbia University, Eslanda Cardozo Goode. After Paul earned his law degree he worked at a law firm in New York, while supporting himself by playing professional football on the weekends. Paul played for the Princeton Players in 1924. After playing professional football, Paul switched to acting. He played title roles in Shakespeare.

After a while of doing acting in several productions, Paul then switched to singing. Eslanda encouraged him to continue in performing. Paul had a magnificent base voice for singing that was very nice to listen to. Even though Paul Robeson was very talented, he faced racism everywhere he went. Paul did a lot of work to improve racism against African Americans by protesting. On 1949, the stage department branded Paul Robeson "one of the most dangerous men in the world". The state department revoked Robeson's passport, and wouldn't restore it until 1958. The FBI and CIA wouldn't leave Robeson alone until his death, and the entertainment industry blacklisted Paul which prevented him from operating in television, radio, or on stage until 1957. Robeson was frowned upon by many people. None of the African American organizations wanted to be associated with Paul any longer. When Robeson's autobiography was published in 1958, most newspapers and magazines didn't even mention the book. The once powerful performer and radical, depressed at the loss of audiences and friends, suffered a series of mental breakdowns and tried twice to commit suicide. Largely forgotten in the 1960s and 1970s, Robeson died after suffering a stroke in 1976.

__**Citations:**__ 1. Sitkoff, Harvard "Paul Robeson" Encyclopedia of the Great Depression Robert S. McElvanine; New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2004 Gate Biography in Context web. 15 Feb. 2011

2. "Paul Robeson" 1994, 2000-2006. On Fact Monster. 2000-2007 Pearson Education, publishing as Fact Monster Fact Monster web. 16 Feb. 2011

3. "Paul Robeson" African American Biograph; Volume 3 1994 print

Picture: Actor Paul Robeson. Corbis, 2006. Image 17 Feb. 2011, []

Video: Ellington Was Not a Street Weston Woods, 2005, Full Video. 17 Feb. 2011, 

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