Paul Robeson

Paul Leroy Robeson was born on April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the youngest son of five children his parents where Presbyterian minister Reverend William Drew Robeson and former schoolteacher Maria Louisa Bustill Robeson . He was the grandson of slaves and the son of a minister who escaped slavery and became one of Rutgers University's most famous and accomplished alumni. In 1923, Robeson earned a law degree from the Columbia Law School. Robeson took a job with a law firm after graduation, but left the firm and the practice of law when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him. Paul Robeson use his artistic talents in theater and music to promote African and African-American history and culture. Robeson became known as a citizen of the world, as comfortable with the people of Moscow and Nairobi as with the people of Harlem. In 1958, he embarked on a successful three-year tour of Europe and Australia. Unfortunately, illness ended his professional career in 1961. He lived the remainder of his years as a private citizen in his sister's home in Philadelphia. He died on January 23, 1976 at the age of 77.