Paul Robeson was a prominent African American activist, athlete, singer, and actor in the 20th century who fought against racial discrimination and inequality. He excelled as a football player at Rutgers University in the 1910s despite facing racism. As a performer, Robeson was one of the first black men to take on substantial roles on Broadway and in films. He became an internationally renowned concert singer and actor, notably starring in productions of Othello. Throughout his career, Robeson openly advocated for civil rights and equality, which led to government surveillance and blacklisting during the McCarthy era that effectively ended his performing career in the 1950s.

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Paul Robeson
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Paul Robeson
Paul Robeson was a prominent African-American sportsperson, singer, actor, and activist
for the human civil rights of people round the world. He rose to fame in a time when isolation was
legitimate in the United States, and black persons were being killed by racialist crowds,
particularly in the South of America. Paul was born April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, being
the youngest child in a family of five children. His dad was a fugitive slave who left as a former
student from Lincoln University, and his mother hail from an opponent Quaker family. His family
grew up in both suffering and the will power to escalate above it. His personal life was no less
inspiring. Robeson for a short time operated as a legal representative in 1923 but gone after
experiencing strong discrimination at his work place. With the reassurance of Eslanda, who would
turn out to be his boss, he twisted completely to the stage.
In early 1915, Paul earned himself a four-year academic sponsorship to Rutgers University.
In spite of violence and discrimination from colleagues, he again won himself 15 varsity letters in
sports (baseball, basketball) and was twofold named in All-American Football Team. He was given
the Phi Beta Kappa key in his low-grade year, gone to the Cap & Skull Honor Society, and honored
as Valedictorian. Nevertheless, it wasn't up to 1995, 19 years later from his demise, that Paul
Robeson was initiated into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In London, Robeson netted global approval for his prime role of leading in Othello, for
which he earned the Donaldson Award for Best Acting Performance in 1944, and acted in Eugene
O'Neill's Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings. He is acknowledged for varying the
areas of the Showboat song "Old Man River" from the gentle "...I'm tired of living' and 'feared of
dying'....," to a statement of confrontation, "... I must keep fighting' until I'm dying....". His 11

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movies comprised of Body and Soul (1924), Jericho (1937), and Proud Valley (1939). Robeson's
journeys trained him that racial discrimination was not as lethal in Europe as in the U.S. At home,
it was hard to find cafes that would help him, auditoriums in New York would only seat Blacks in
the back seats, and his shows were regularly bounded with intimidations or complete persecution.
In London, on the contrary, Robeson's introductory night presentation of Emperor Jones took the
addressees to its bases with cheers for twelve repeats.
With his deep baritone voice, Paul used it to endorse Black spirituals, to share the values
of other states, and to profit the work and collective activities of his time. He chanted for harmony
and fairness in 25 vernaculars all over the U.S., Europe, the Soviet Union, and Africa. Robeson
turned out to be recognized as a resident of the world, similarly contented with the citizens of
Moscow, Nairobi, and Harlem. Midst of his friends were upcoming African leader Jomo Kenyatta,
India president Nehru, historian Dr. William Du Bois, rebel Emma Goldman, and authors James
Joyce and Ernest Hemingway. In 1933, Robeson gave the profits of All God's Chillun to Jewish
immigrants run away from the rule of Hitler in Germany. At a 1937 meeting for the anti-racist
militaries in the Spanish Civil War, he stated, "The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or
Slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative." In New York in 1939, he premiered in Earl
Robinson's Ballad for Americans, rejoicing the multi-cultural, multi-ethnic face of America. It was
received with the biggest viewers reply since Orson Welles' well-known "War of the Worlds."
The 1940s, Robeson continued to carry out rallies and demonstrations and to say out
against prejudice, in support of employment, and for harmony. He was a winner of employed
persons and prepared employment. He spoke and pronounce at slowdown meetings, seminars, and
employment commemorations globally. As an ardent supporter in global team work, Robeson

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complained the rising Cold War and fought determinedly for alliance and respect between the U.S.
and the USSR. In 1945, he led a group that faces up to President Truman to care an anti-lynching
law. In the late 1940s, when the opposition was hardly allowed in the U.S., Robeson publicly asked
why African Americans must fight in the military of administration that allowed prejudice. For the
reason that he was outspoken, he was blamed by the House Un-American Activities Committee of
being a Socialist. Robeson looked at this as an attack on the self-governing privileges of everybody
who operated for a global relationship and fairness. The allegation closely ended his calling. Eighty
of his performances were irrecoverable, and in 1949 two multiethnic open-air shows in Peekskill,
N.Y. were confronted by chauvinistic crowds while national forces stood by. Robeson retorted,
"I'm going to sing wherever the people want me to sing...and I won't be frightened by crosses
burning in Peekskill or anywhere else."
From his affection of open speaking, Robeson started to discover work as a performer. In
the mid of 1920s he performed in the lead in Eugene O’Neill’s “All God’s Chillun Got Wings”
(1924) as well as “The Emperor Jones” (1925). During late 1920s and 1930s, Robeson was an
extensively celebrated artist and vocalist. With records such as his brand “Ol’ Man River,” he
turned out to be one of the most prominent performance singers of his time. His “Othello” was the
extensive in a row Shakespeare comedy in Broadway past, consecutively for closely three hundred
presentations. It is still reflected as one of the great-American Shakespeare show. Although his
celebrity grew in the United States, he turned out to be equally well-loved globally. He could
communicate in more than fifteen dialects, and did profits all over the world for reasons of social
fairness. Other than any other actor of his time, he thought that the fame have a duty to fight for
fairness and harmony.

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As a performer, Robeson was one of the first dark-skinned men to perform thoughtful roles
in the mainly white American Playhouse. He did in several of movies as well, comprising a re-
make of “The Emperor Jones” (1933) as well as “Song of Freedom” (1936). In a time of intensely
engrained prejudice, he constantly fights back for additional understanding of cultural variance.
At the pinnacle of his status, Robeson was a state icon and a traditional front-runner in the war
against oppression overseas and discrimination at home. He was respected and made friends with
both the overall community and noticeable leaders, counting William Du Bois, Roosevelt, Harry
Truman, Pablo Neruda, and Joe Louis. Even though had various capacities and his open protection
of civil rights brought him a lot of followers, it furthermore prepared him for rivals among
conformists trying to uphold their rank. It took Paul Robeson seventy-seven years to gain the high
opinion of the institution sports domain.

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References
Ehrlich, S. (1989). Paul Robeson. Los Angeles, Calif: Melrose Square Pub.
Dean, P. H. (1997). Paul Robeson. New York: Dramatists Play Service.
Paul Robeson, the great forerunner. (1998). New York: International Publishers.
Robeson, P., Dorinson, J., & Pencak, W. (2004). Paul Robeson: Essays on his life and legacy.
Jefferson, N.C: McFarland.
Robeson, P. (2001). The undiscovered Paul Robeson: An artist's journey (1898-1939). New
York: Wiley.
Swindall, L. R. (2013). Paul Robeson: A life of activism and art.