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He was born
- Paul Robeson was born on April 9th, 1898 in Princeton, NJ
- Youngest of 8 children
- Son of a former slave turned preacher
- He a attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ, playing football he was the 3rd African American to attend.
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There's no Business, Like Show Business
- Graduated from the Columbia University Law School in 1923 and took a job with a New York law firm. -Robeson's career as a lawyer ended suddenly when others within the firm turned on him because he was African American. -He then turned to acting as a career, his first act was a play called All God's Chillun Got Wings , he got the lead
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All Around the World
- During the 1930's Robeson entertained throughtout Europe and the United States -In 1934 he spoke out against the Nazis who was Adolf's Hitler's radical German army
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Power to "his own" people
- Became chairman of the Council on African Affairs,which he helped establish in 1937
- A spokesman for cultural black nationalism which was a a radical movement that called for African Americans to set up their own self-governing nation -Robeson also continued to fight racial discrimination that forced separation people based on race
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Political Voice
- He sang to Loyalists troops during the Spainish Civil War (1936-39)
- when battles erupted between Spain's traditionalists and reigning Second Spanish Republic
- During World War II (1939–45), when the Allies—the United States, England, France, and the Soviet Union—battled German-led Axis forces -He supported the American effort by entertaining soldiers in camps and laborers in war industries.
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Continues for Equality
-After the war, Robeson worked full-time campaigning for the rights of African Americans around the world
-With a period of great paranoia within the nation, the American government and many citizens felt threatened
-By Robeson's crusade for peace and on behalf of minorities
- The fact that for over fifteen years he was America's most popular African American
-Did not prevent Robeson from being banned from Americans concert and meeting halls and being denied a passport to travel overseas. -
Finally...recognition!
-During the 1950s Robeson performed in black churches and for trade unions
-After eight years of denial, he won his passport
-Gave a concert in Carnegie Hall, and published Here I Stand in 1958.
- He went abroad on concert, television, and theater engagements -
awards....awards.....and even more AWARDS!!
-National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP)
-Spingarn Medal
- Several honorary degrees from colleges
-Diction Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
- Numerous awards from labor unions and civic organizations
Stalin Peace Prize -
All Good Things Must Come to an End
—Robeson returned to America in 1963 in poor health
- Soon retired from public life.
-Slowly deteriorating and living in seclusion
-Robeson died on January 23, 1976, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
-After suffering a stroke -
Life after Death
- He was inducted posthumously after his death into the College Football Hall of Fame
- At the new fourteen million dollar museum's grand opening in South Bend, Indiana -His songs, such as his trademark Ol' Man River, and acting have remained available in videos and new releases of his vintage recordings
