Paul Robeson was one of the 20th century's greatest voices and a trailblazing human rights and peace activist. The son of The Rev. William Drew Robeson, who escaped from slavery at the age of 15, and Maria Louisa Bustill, a free Black educator of Lenni-Lenape and Quaker descent, he graduated from Rutgers College in 1919 and achieved extraordinary success despite segregation and racism. He broke barriers as a college football star, was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and The Cap & Skull Society, and graduated valedictorian of his class. In 1923, he graduated from Columbia Law School. In the 1920s, during the Harlem Renaissance and in Europe, he rose to global stardom as a concert singer, recording artist, and actor. His dignity, fierce intellect, and towering presence stood in stark contrast to the demeaning African-American stereotypes of his time. Never allowing personal success to blind him to injustice, he inspired millions around the world as a champion of civil rights, economic justice, colonial independence, global freedom of movement, world peace, and anti-nuclear proliferation. When the Cold War and McCarthyism consumed America in the late 1940s and 1950s, his ideals were considered by many to be un-American. The government revoked his passport and helped orchestrate a virtual ban that prevented him from performing and recording. But Paul Robeson continued to speak out. In 1958, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the denial of passports based on political beliefs was unconstitutional. He re-established his career in America and abroad and continued to speak out for human rights, world peace, and freedom.

Photo: David Weintraub

Photo: David Weintraub

Photo: David Weintraub

New Brunswick, New Jersey · USA