In 1915, Robeson won an academic scholarship to Rutgers College, where he was the only African-American student. While at Rutgers, he was twice named a consensus All-American in football and was elected class valedictorian. He earned his LL.B. from Columbia Law School, while playing in the National Football League (NFL). After graduation, he became a figure in the Harlem Renaissance, with performances in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones and All God's Chillun Got Wings.

Robeson performed in Britain in a touring melodrama, Voodoo, in 1922, and in Emperor Jones in 1925. In 1928, he scored a major success in the London premiere of Show Boat. Living in London for several years with his wife Eslanda, Robeson continued to establish himself as a concert artist and starred in a London production of Othello, the first of three productions of the play over the course of his career. He also gained attention in Sanders of the River (1935) and in the film production of Show Boat (1936). Robeson's political activities began with his involvement with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist students in Britain, and it continued with his support for the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War and his involvement in the Council on African Affairs (CAA).

After returning to the United States in 1939, Robeson supported the American and Allied war efforts during World War II. However, his history of supporting civil rights causes and Soviet policies brought scrutiny from the FBI. After the war ended, the CAA was placed on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations. Robeson was investigated during the McCarthy era. When he refused to recant his public advocacy of left-wing beliefs, the U.S. State Department denied his passport and his income plummeted. He moved to Harlem and published a periodical called Freedom,^[4] which was critical of United States policies, from 1950 to 1955. Robeson's right to travel was eventually restored as a result of the 1958 United States Supreme Court decision Kent v. Dulles.

Between 1925 and 1961, Robeson recorded and released some 276 songs. The first of these was the spiritual "Steal Away", backed with "Were You There", in 1925. Robeson's recorded repertoire spanned many styles, including Americana, popular standards, classical music, European folk songs, political songs, poetry and spoken excerpts from plays.^[5]

Early life[edit]

1898–1915: Childhood[edit]

Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1898, to Reverend William Drew Robeson and Maria Louisa Bustill.^[6] His mother, Maria, was a member of the Bustills, a prominent Quaker family of mixed ancestry.^[7] His father, William, was of Igbo origin and was born into slavery.^[8][9] William escaped from a plantation in his teens^[10] and eventually became the minister of Princeton's Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in 1881.^[11] Robeson had three brothers: William Drew Jr. (born 1881), Reeve (born c. 1887), and Ben (born c. 1893); and one sister, Marian (born c. 1895).^[12]

In 1900, a disagreement between William and white financial supporters of the Witherspoon church arose with apparent racial undertones,^[13] which were prevalent in Princeton.^[14] William, who had the support of his entirely black congregation, resigned in 1901.^[15] The loss of his position forced him to work menial jobs.^[16] Three years later when Robeson was six, his mother, who was nearly blind, died in a house fire.^[17] Eventually, William became financially incapable of providing a house for himself and his children still living at home, Ben and Paul, so they moved into the attic of a store in Westfield, New Jersey.^[18]

William found a stable parsonage at the St. Thomas A.M.E. Zion in 1910,^[19] where Robeson filled in for his father during sermons when he was called away.^[20] In 1912, Robeson began attending Somerville High School in New Jersey,^[21] where he performed in Julius Caesar and Othello, sang in the chorus, and excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track.^[22] His athletic dominance elicited racial taunts which he ignored.^[23] Prior to his graduation, he won a statewide academic contest for a scholarship to Rutgers and was named class valedictorian.^[24] He took a summer job as a waiter in Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, where he befriended Fritz Pollard, later to be the first African-American coach in the National Football League.^[25]

1915–1919: Rutgers College[edit]

In late 1915, Robeson became the third African-American student ever enrolled at Rutgers, and the only one at the time.^[26] He tried out for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team,^[27] and his resolve to make the squad was tested as his teammates engaged in excessive play, during which his nose was broken and his shoulder dislocated.^[28] The coach, Foster Sanford, decided he had overcome the provocation and announced that he had made the team.^[29]

Robeson joined the debating team^[30] and sang off-campus for spending money,^[31] and on-campus with the Glee Club informally, as membership required attending all-white mixers.^[32] He also joined the other collegiate athletic teams.^[33] As a sophomore, amidst Rutgers' sesquicentennial celebration, he was benched when a Southern football team, Washington and Lee University, refused to take the field because the Scarlet Knights had fielded a Negro, Robeson.^[34]

After a standout junior year of football,^[35] he was recognized in The Crisis for his athletic, academic, and singing talents.^[36] At this time^[37] his father fell grievously ill.^[38] Robeson took the sole responsibility in caring for him, shuttling between Rutgers and Somerville.^[39] His father, who was the "glory of his boyhood years"^[40] soon died, and at Rutgers, Robeson expounded on the incongruity of African Americans fighting to protect America in World War I but not having the same opportunities in the United States as whites.^[41]

He finished university with four annual oratorical triumphs^[42] and varsity letters in multiple sports.^[43] His play at end^[44] won him first-team All-American selection, in both his junior and senior years. Walter Camp considered him the greatest end ever.^[45] Academically, he was accepted into Phi Beta Kappa^[46] and Cap and Skull.^[47] His classmates recognized him^[48] by electing him class valedictorian.^[49] The Daily Targum published a poem featuring his achievements.^[50] In his valedictory speech, he exhorted his classmates to work for equality for all Americans. At Rutgers Robeson also gained a reputation for his singing, having a deep rich voice which some saw as bass with a high range, others as baritone with low notes. Throughout his career Robeson was classified as a bass-baritone.^[51]

1919–1923: Columbia Law School and marriage[edit]

Robeson entered New York University School of Law in fall 1919.^[52] To support himself, he became an assistant football coach at Lincoln University,^[53] where he joined the Alpha Phi Alpha.^[54] However, Robeson felt uncomfortable at NYU^[55] and moved to Harlem and transferred to Columbia Law School in February 1920.^[56] Already known in the black community for his singing,^[57] he was selected to perform at the dedication of the Harlem YWCA.^[58]

Robeson began dating Eslanda "Essie" Goode^[59] and after her coaxing,^[60] he made his theatrical debut as Simon in Ridgely Torrence's Simon of Cyrene.^[61] After a year of courtship, they were married in August 1921.^[62]

Robeson was recruited by Fritz Pollard to play for the NFL's Akron Pros while he continued his law studies.^[63] In the spring of 1922, Robeson postponed school^[64] to portray Jim in Mary Hoyt Wiborg's play Taboo.^[65] He then sang in the chorus of an Off-Broadway production of Shuffle Along^[66] before he joined Taboo in Britain.^[67] The play was adapted by Mrs. Patrick Campbell to highlight his singing.^[68] After the play's run ended, he befriended Lawrence Brown,^[69] a classically trained musician,^[70] before returning to Columbia while playing for the NFL's Milwaukee Badgers.^[71] He ended his football career after the 1922 season,^[72] and graduated from Columbia Law School in 1923.^[73]

Theatrical success and ideological transformation[edit]

1923–1927: Harlem Renaissance[edit]

Robeson worked briefly as a lawyer, but he renounced a career in law because of racism.^[74] His wife supported them financially. She was the head histological chemist in Surgical Pathology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She continued to work there until 1925 when his career took off.^[75] They frequented the social functions at the future Schomburg Center.^[76] In December 1924 he landed the lead role of Jim in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings,^[77] which culminated with Jim metaphorically consummating his marriage with his white wife by symbolically emasculating himself. Chillun's opening was postponed due to nationwide controversy over its plot.^[78]

Chillun's delay led to a revival of The Emperor Jones with Robeson as Brutus, a role pioneered by Charles Sidney Gilpin.^[79] The role terrified and galvanized Robeson, as it was practically a 90-minute soliloquy.^[80] Reviews declared him an unequivocal success.^[81] Though arguably clouded by its controversial subject, his Jim in Chillun was less well received.^[82] He answered criticism of its plot by writing that fate had drawn him to the "untrodden path" of drama, that the true measure of a culture is in its artistic contributions, and that the only true American culture was African-American.^[83]

The success of his acting placed him in elite social circles^[84] and his ascension to fame, which was forcefully aided by Essie,^[85] had occurred at a startling pace.^[86] Essie's ambition for Robeson was a startling dichotomy to his indifference.^[87] She quit her job, became his agent, and negotiated his first movie role in a silent race film directed by Oscar Micheaux, Body and Soul (1925).^[88] To support a charity for single mothers, he headlined a concert singing spirituals.^[89] He performed his repertoire of spirituals on the radio.^[90]

Lawrence Brown, who had become renowned while touring as a pianist with gospel singer Roland Hayes, chanced upon Robeson in Harlem.^[91] The two ad-libbed a set of spirituals, with Robeson as lead and Brown as accompanist. This so enthralled them that they booked Provincetown Playhouse for a concert.^[92] The pair's rendition of African-American folk songs and spirituals was captivating,^[93] and Victor Records signed Robeson to a contract in September 1925.^[94]

The Robesons went to London for a revival of The Emperor Jones, before spending the rest of the fall on holiday on the French Riviera, socializing with Gertrude Stein and Claude McKay.^[95] Robeson and Brown performed a series of concert tours in America from January 1926 until May 1927.^[96]

During a hiatus in New York, Robeson learned that Essie was several months pregnant.^[97] Paul Robeson Jr. was born in November 1927 in New York, while Robeson and Brown toured Europe.^[98] Essie experienced complications from the birth,^[99] and by mid-December, her health had deteriorated dramatically. Ignoring Essie's objections, her mother wired Robeson and he immediately returned to her bedside.^[100] Essie completely recovered after a few months.^{[citation needed]}

1928–1932: Show Boat, Othello, and marriage difficulties[edit]

In 1928, Robeson played "Joe" in the London production of the American musical Show Boat, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.^[101] His rendition of "Ol' Man River" became the benchmark for all future performers of the song.^[102] Some black critics objected to the play's use of the then common racial epithet.^[103] It was, nonetheless, immensely popular with white audiences.^[104] He was summoned for a Royal Command Performance at Buckingham Palace^[105] and Robeson was befriended by Members of Parliament (MPs) from the House of Commons.^[106] Show Boat continued for 350 performances and, as of 2001, it remained the Royal's most profitable venture.^[102] The Robesons bought a home in Hampstead.^[107] He reflected on his life in his diary and wrote that it was all part of a "higher plan" and "God watches over me and guides me. He's with me and lets me fight my own battles and hopes I'll win."^[108] However, an incident at the Savoy Grill, in which he was refused seating, sparked him to issue a press release describing the insult which subsequently became a matter of public debate.^[109]

Essie had learned early in their marriage that Robeson had been involved in extramarital affairs, but she tolerated them.^[110] However, when she discovered that he was having another affair, she unfavorably altered the characterization of him in his biography,^[111] and defamed him by describing him with "negative racial stereotypes".^[112] Despite her uncovering of this tryst, there was no public evidence that their relationship had soured.^[113]

The couple appeared in the experimental Swiss film Borderline (1930).^[114] He then returned to the Savoy Theatre, in London's West End to play Othello, opposite Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona.^[115] He cited the lack of a "racial problem" in London as significant in his decision to move to London.^[116] Robeson was the first black actor to play Othello in Britain since Ira Aldridge.^[117] The production received mixed reviews which noted Robeson's "highly civilized quality [but lacking the] grand style."^[118] Robeson stated the best way to diminish the oppression African Americans faced was for his artistic work to be an example of what "men of my colour" could accomplish rather than to "be a propagandist and make speeches and write articles about what they call the Colour Question."^[119]

After Essie discovered Robeson had been having an affair with Ashcroft, she decided to seek a divorce and they split up.^[120] While working in London, Robeson became one of the first artists to record at the new EMI Recording Studios (later known as Abbey Road Studios), recording four songs in September 1931, almost two months before the studio was officially opened.^[121] Robeson returned to Broadway as Joe in the 1932 revival of Show Boat, to critical and popular acclaim.^[122] He received, with immense pride, an honorary master's degree from Rutgers.^[123] It is said that Foster Sanford, his college football coach advised him that divorcing Essie and marrying Ashcroft would do irreparable damage to his reputation.^[124] In any case, Ashcroft and Robeson's relationship ended in 1932,^[125] and Robeson and Essie reconciled, leaving their relationship scarred permanently.^[126]

1933–1937: Ideological awakening[edit]

In 1933, Robeson played the role of Jim in the London production of Chillun, virtually gratis,^[127] then returned to the United States to star as Brutus in the film The Emperor Jones—the first film to feature an African American in a starring role, "a feat not repeated for more than two decades in the U.S."^[128][129] His acting in The Emperor Jones was well received.^[129] On the film set he rejected any slight to his dignity, despite the widespread Jim Crow atmosphere in the United States.^[130] Upon returning to England, he publicly criticized African Americans' rejection of their own culture.^[131] Despite negative reactions from the press, such as a New York Amsterdam News retort that Robeson had made a "jolly well [ass of himself]",^[132] he also announced that he would reject any offers to perform central European (though not Russian, which he considered "Asiatic") opera because the music had no connection to his heritage.^[133]

In early 1934, Robeson enrolled in the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), a constituent college of the University of London, where he studied phonetics and Swahili.^[134][135] His "sudden interest" in African history and its influence on culture^[136] coincided with his essay "I Want to be African", wherein he wrote of his desire to embrace his ancestry.^[137]

His friends in the anti-imperialist movement and his association with British socialists led him to visit the Soviet Union.^[137] Robeson, Essie, and Marie Seton traveled to the Soviet Union on an invitation from Sergei Eisenstein in December 1934.^[138] A stopover in Berlin enlightened Robeson to the racism in Nazi Germany^[139] and, on his arrival in Moscow, in the Soviet Union, Robeson said, "Here I am not a Negro but a human being for the first time in my life ... I walk in full human dignity."^[140]

He undertook the role of Bosambo in the movie Sanders of the River (1935),^[141] which he felt would render a realistic view of colonial African culture. Sanders of the River made Robeson an international movie star;^[142] but the stereotypical portrayal of a colonial African^[143] was seen as embarrassing to his stature as an artist^[144] and damaging to his reputation.^[145] The Commissioner of Nigeria to London protested the film as slanderous to his country,^[146] and Robeson thereafter became more politically conscious of his roles.^[147] He appeared in the play Stevedore at the Embassy Theatre in London in May 1935,^[148] which was favorably reviewed in The Crisis by Nancy Cunard, who concluded: "Stevedore is extremely valuable in the racial–social question—it is straight from the shoulder".^[149] In early 1936, he decided to send his son to school in the Soviet Union to shield him from racist attitudes.^[150] He then played the role of Toussaint L'Ouverture in the eponymous play by C.L.R. James^[151] at the Westminster Theatre, and appeared in the films Song of Freedom,^[152] and Show Boat in 1936,^[153] and My Song Goes Forth,^[154] King Solomon's Mines.^[155] and Big Fella, all in 1937.^[156] In 1938, he was named by American Motion Picture Herald as the 10th most popular star in British cinema.^[157]

In 1935, Robeson met Albert Einstein when Einstein came backstage after Robeson's concert at the McCarter Theatre. The two discovered that, as well as a mutual passion for music, they shared a hatred for fascism. The friendship between Robeson and Einstein lasted nearly twenty years, but was not well known or publicised.^[158]