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| {{Infobox person|name=Paul Robeson|birth_name=April 9, 1898|death_date=January 23, 1976|birth_place=Princeton, [[State of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[United States of America|United States]]|death_place=Philadelphia, [[Pennsylvania]], United States|image=Paul Robeson.jpg|image_size=350|caption=Paul Robeson}} | | {{Infobox person|name=Paul Robeson|birth_name=April 9, 1898|death_date=January 23, 1976|birth_place=Princeton, [[State of New Jersey|New Jersey]], [[United States of America|United States]]|death_place=Philadelphia, [[Pennsylvania]], United States|image=Paul Robeson.jpg|image_size=350|caption=Paul Robeson}} |
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| '''Paul Robeson''' (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was a Statesian singer, actor, lawyer, and political activist. The U.S. government suspended his passport in 1949 for his support of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] and the [[People's Republic of China]]. His passport was later reinstated in 1958, but he was prevented from traveling to any [[Socialism|socialist]] countries.<ref name=":5">{{Web citation|author=Gao Yunxiang|newspaper=[[Friends of Socialist China]]|title=Why the People’s Republic of China embraced Paul Robeson|url=https://socialistchina.org/2022/08/26/why-the-peoples-republic-of-china-embraced-paul-robeson/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826110222/https://socialistchina.org/2022/08/26/why-the-peoples-republic-of-china-embraced-paul-robeson/|archive-date=2022-08-26|retrieved=2022-09-11}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Web citation|author=HAROLD D. WEAVER JR|newspaper=Jacobin|title=Paul Robeson Was One of the Greatest Figures of the 20th Century|date=2021-06-19|url=https://jacobin.com/2021/06/harold-weaver-on-paul-robeson-racism-colonialism-actor-singer-activist-career-council-of-african-affairs}}</ref> | | '''Paul Robeson''' (April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was a Statesian singer, actor, lawyer, and political activist. The U.S. government suspended his passport in 1949 for his support of the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]] and the [[People's Republic of China]]. His passport was later reinstated in 1958, but he was prevented from traveling to any [[Socialism|socialist]] countries.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Gao Yunxiang|newspaper=[[Friends of Socialist China]]|title=Why the People’s Republic of China embraced Paul Robeson|url=https://socialistchina.org/2022/08/26/why-the-peoples-republic-of-china-embraced-paul-robeson/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220826110222/https://socialistchina.org/2022/08/26/why-the-peoples-republic-of-china-embraced-paul-robeson/|archive-date=2022-08-26|retrieved=2022-09-11}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=HAROLD D. WEAVER JR|newspaper=Jacobin|title=Paul Robeson Was One of the Greatest Figures of the 20th Century|date=2021-06-19|url=https://jacobin.com/2021/06/harold-weaver-on-paul-robeson-racism-colonialism-actor-singer-activist-career-council-of-african-affairs}}</ref> |
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| == Early Life == | | == Early Life 1989-1915 == |
| Paul Leroy Bustill Robeson was born on April 9,1898 in Princeton, New Jersey. His parents were a formerly enslaved Presbyterian preacher William Drew Robeson and Mary Louise Bastille. He was the youngest of 5 children.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Mario Kessler|newspaper=Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung|title=Paul Robeson: The Left’s Tragic Hero|date=2022-09-04|url=https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/50247/paul-robeson-the-lefts-tragic-hero}}</ref> | | Paul Leroy Bustill Robeson was born on April 9,1898 in Princeton, New Jersey. His parents were a formerly enslaved Presbyterian preacher William Drew Robeson and Mary Louise Bastille. He was the youngest of 5 children.<ref name=":0">{{Web citation|author=Mario Kessler|newspaper=Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung|title=Paul Robeson: The Left’s Tragic Hero|date=2022-09-04|url=https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/50247/paul-robeson-the-lefts-tragic-hero}}</ref> |
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| He excelled in a variety of academic and athletic fields in his youth. In 1915 he won a national academic competition for a scholarship to Rutgers College. | | He excelled in a variety of academic and athletic fields in his youth. In 1915 he won a national academic competition for a scholarship to Rutgers College. |
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| == Education == | | == Education 1915-1923 == |
| After receiving his scholarship in 1915 Robeson attended Rutgers university. He was the third black student to attend the university in its history. <ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=Rutgers New Brunswick|title=About Paul Robeson|url=https://robeson100.rutgers.edu/about-paul-robeson#:~:text=His%20scholarly%20accomplishments%20included%20being,of%20the%20Intercollegiate%20Debating%20Association.}}</ref> | | After receiving his scholarship in 1915 Robeson attended Rutgers university. He was the third black student to attend the university in its history. <ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=Rutgers New Brunswick|title=About Paul Robeson|url=https://robeson100.rutgers.edu/about-paul-robeson#:~:text=His%20scholarly%20accomplishments%20included%20being,of%20the%20Intercollegiate%20Debating%20Association.}}</ref> |
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| After briefly working at a law office he began a career in singing and acting. In April 1921 he played a lead role in the play ''Taboo'' and was in several other plays on Broadway and in London. In 1924 he played the title role in ''Wings Are Given to All Children of Men,'' and ''The Emperor Jones,'' two of several Eugene O'Neill productions he played in. He recorded his first song in 1925 and went on a musical tour in Europe. His recording of the song Ol' Man River from the musical ''Showboat'' in 1928 became famous worldwide.<ref name=":0" /> | | After briefly working at a law office he began a career in singing and acting. In April 1921 he played a lead role in the play ''Taboo'' and was in several other plays on Broadway and in London. In 1924 he played the title role in ''Wings Are Given to All Children of Men,'' and ''The Emperor Jones,'' two of several Eugene O'Neill productions he played in. He recorded his first song in 1925 and went on a musical tour in Europe. His recording of the song Ol' Man River from the musical ''Showboat'' in 1928 became famous worldwide.<ref name=":0" /> |
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| == Communism and International Career ==
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| In 1929, while in London performing in the musical ''Showboat,'' Robeson encountered a group of Welsh miners on a protest march. He joined their march and after it was over paid for their train ride back to Wales, giving them food and clothing as well.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Jeff Sparrow|newspaper=The Guardian|title=How Paul Robeson found his political voice in the Welsh valleys|date=2017-07-02|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/02/how-paul-robeson-found-political-voice-in-welsh-valleys}}</ref>
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| In 1930 Robeson traveled to London again to play the title role in Shakesperes ''Othello''. There in 1934 he attended the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, majoring in Swahili.<ref name=":0" />
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| Later in 1934 he travelled to the Soviet Union as part of a project by Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein to portray the Haitian Revolution in a movie called ''Black Majesty.'' The visit to the Soviet Union had a great impact on Robeson. In an interview there he stated:<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>I already regard myself at home here. This is home to me. I feel more kinship to the Russian people under their new society than I ever felt anywhere else. It is obvious that there is no terror here, that all the masses of every race are contented and support their government."<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>After the beginning of the Spanish Civil War Robeson began to support the Republican cause, raising funds for displaced children, advocating for assistance to the Republicans and in 1938 visiting Spain. After the war Robeson was declared an honorary member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.<ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Zinn Education Project|title=Robeson in Spain|url=https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/robeson-in-spain#:~:text=After%20the%20Spanish%20Civil%20War,assistance%20to%20the%20Spanish%20Republic.}}</ref>
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| Around this time he also advocated against the Fascist governments in Italy and Germany and sand at benefits for Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=¡Alba!|title=Who was Paul Robeson|url=https://alba-valb.org/resource/who-was-paul-robeson/}}</ref>
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| In 1940 he recorded one of his most famous songs, Ballad for Americans, written by John La Touche. The song celebrated various struggles for freedom in the United States as well as diversity in the context of the growing civil rights movement in the US.<ref name=":2" />
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| In 1941 Robeson recorded the song Chee Lai!, which would later become the national anthem of the People's Republic of China, in both English and Mandarin.<ref name=":5" />
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| In 1942 he narrated the documentary film Native Land, which documented civil rights violations in the United States. The film was labelled "Covert Communist Propaganda" by the FBI.<ref name=":0" />
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| In 1944 Robeson starred in a Broadway production of Othello. The production ran for 296 performances-the most of any Shakespeare production on Broadway.<ref name=":3" />
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| In 1949 at the Paris Peace Conference Robeson gave a speech in which he allegedly stated:<blockquote>“It is unthinkable that American Negroes would go to war on behalf of those who have oppressed us for generations against the Soviet Union which in one generation has raised our people to the full dignity of mankind.”<ref>{{Web citation|author=Eric Nusbaum|newspaper=Time|title=The Story Behind Jackie Robinson’s Moving Testimony Before the House Un-American Activities Committee|date=2020-3-24|url=https://time.com/5808543/jackie-robinson-huac/}}</ref></blockquote>It is unlikely he ever said this, but reports of this combined with his well known Communist activist led to animosity in the press, blacklisting and direct suppression by state intelligence agencies, who had been monitoring his activity for some time.<ref>{{Citation|author=Tony Perucci|year=2009|title=The Red Mask of Sanity|title-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25599517?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents|pdf=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25599517?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents}}</ref>
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| In 1950 Robeson's passport was revoked due to his Communism and his support for global national liberation movements.<ref name=":4">Paul Robeson Testimony before HUAC[https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6440]</ref>
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| In 1952 Robeson won the Stalin Peace Prize, which he accepted in New York due to being unable to travel.<ref>{{Citation|author=Paul Robeson|year=1953|title=Thoughts on Winning the Stalin Peace Prize|title-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/robeson/1953/01/x01.htm|mia=https://www.marxists.org/archive/robeson/1953/01/x01.htm}}</ref>
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| On June 12, 1956, Robeson was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities due to his refusal to sign an affidavit stating he was not a Communist. Unlike many others forced to testify, Robeson did not co-operate with questions nor accept assumptions made by them. He affirmed his belief in Communism and pushed back against lies stated by members of the committee.<ref name=":4" />
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| In 1958 Robeson's passport was returned to him after a United States Supreme Court ruling that passports could not be taken without due process. Following this he performed in several countries including the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Web citation|newspaper=Zinn Education Project|title=June 12, 1956: Paul Robeson Testifies Before HUAC|url=https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/paul-robeson-testifies-before-huac/#:~:text=In%201958%2C%20the%20Supreme%20Court,and%20Robeson's%20passport%20was%20returned.}}</ref>
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| == Later Life, Health Issues, and Death ==
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| In March 1961, while staying in Moscow, Paul Robeson attempted suicide in his hotel room by cutting his wrists during a party in the hotel room. He was cared for in a Soviet hospital until September. He returned to the Soviet Union after his mental health issues reemerged. He returned to London again and suffered a panic attack. He was hospitalized there and underwent various medical treatments under the watch of CIA and MI5 agents. The treatments further damaged his health and some, including Robeson's son who was with him during this period, allege Robeson was poisoned, possibly as part of project MK Ultra.<ref>{{Video citation|url=https://www.democracynow.org/1999/7/1/did_the_cia_drug_paul_robeson|channel=Democracy Now!|title=Did the CIA Drug Paul Robeson?–a Look at the Secret Program Mk Ultra|date=July 01, 1999}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
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| He supported the civil rights movement from London, celebrating the March on Washington in 1963, and later became sporadically involved after his return to the US in 1964, but his political and artistic activities had mostly ceased.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Paul Von Blum|newspaper=The Progressive|title=The Hidden History of Paul Robeson|date=2021-06-21|url=https://progressive.org/latest/hidden-history-of-paul-robeson-vonblum-210621/}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
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| He attempted suicide again in 1965 in San Francisco, with this attempt having further negative effects on his health.<ref name=":0" />
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| In the later years of his life he lived a reclusive life with his widowed sister in Philadelphia. His 75th birthday was celebrated at Carnegie Hall in New York, with more than 3,000 people attending.<ref name=":0" /> He was unable to attend, but taped a message played there, stating:<blockquote>“Although I have been unable to engage in social activities for several years, I want you to know that I remain committed to the struggle for freedom, peace and the brotherhood of man on earth.”<ref name=":3" /></blockquote>He died on January 23, 1976 in Philadelphia after suffering a stroke brought on by his health issues.<ref name=":0" />
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| == References == | | == References == |
| [[Category:Statesian communists]] | | [[Category:Statesian communists]] |
