Robeson, Paul Jr. ; Singer & Actor

Description:

Portrait of singer, actor and political activist, Paul Robeson. "Paul Robeson was the epitome of the 20th-century Renaissance man, he was an exceptional athlete, actor, singer, cultural scholar, author, and political activist. His talents made him a revered man of his time, yet his radical political beliefs all but erased him from popular history ... born in 1898, Paul Robeson grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, his father had escaped slavery and become a Presbyterian minister, while his mother was from a distinguished Philadelphia family, at seventeen, he was given a scholarship to Rutgers University, where he received an unprecedented twelve major letters in four years and was his class valedictorian, after graduating he went on to Columbia University Law School, and, in the early 1920s, took a job with a New York law firm. Racial strife at the firm ended Robeson’s career as a lawyer early, but he was soon to find an appreciative home for his talents ... Robeson began to find work as an actor, in the mid-1920s he played the lead in Eugene O’Neill’s “All God’s Chillun Got Wings” (1924) and “The Emperor Jones” (1925), throughout the late 1920s and 1930s, he was a widely acclaimed actor and singer. With songs such as his trademark “Ol’ Man River,” he became one of the most popular concert singers of his time," from the PBS American Masters website.

Notes:

Collection located at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. To schedule an appointment to view the original image, order high resolution copies, or seek permission to use an image, contact the Walter P. Reuther Library AudioVisual Department at reutherreference@wayne.edu., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, and This metadata was created by Wayne State University Library system based on original description by the Walter P. Reuther Library

Date Issued:

1978-04-07T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Wayne State University. Libraries and Walter P. Reuther Library

Collection:

Virtual Motor City

Subject Topic:

African American actors, African American singers, and African American political activists

Subject Name:

Robeson, Paul and 1898-1976

Format:

photographs

Rights:

Copyright Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University

URL:

http://digital.library.wayne.edu/item/wayne:vmc11105_1