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The NCAA News - News and FeaturesThe NCAA News -- September 28, 1998
100 years after his birth, Robeson remains an example
BY KAY HAWES
Long before political activists could count on the support of the courts to protect their freedoms and long before it was commonplace to see a black man play opposite a white woman on the stage, there was Paul Robeson. He was a scholar, a star athlete in multiple sports, a world-renowned actor and singer, and an activist for social causes in an era when Blacks simply did not have a voice. This year a variety of events and activities celebrate the centennial of Robeson's birth, and many who plan the activities hope that a new generation will rediscover Robeson and his dedication to academics, athletics and social justice. A role model for young student-athletes of all colors, Robeson should be remembered and honored because he was both a letterman and a man of letters, said Samuel Hay, executive director of North Carolina A&T State University's Paul Robeson Theatre. "We've had outstanding black scholars and outstanding black athletes, but nobody quite like him," Hay told the Greensboro, North Carolina, News & Record. "When have we ever seen a man like this? He was truly a Renaissance man, a scholar, but also an all-American athlete. And on top of that, he became a fine actor." "We all need to know about Paul Robeson. For kids looking for a role model besides mom and dad, he's the one." A star to follow Born in 1898, Paul Leroy Robeson was the youngest of five children born to an escaped slave and a school teacher. His father, Rev. William Drew Robeson, would become Robeson's greatest role model. And what a role model he was. The elder Robeson escaped slavery at age 16 to join the Union forces in North Carolina. At the time of his escape, he was illiterate, had no trade and, it seemed, little potential. He was listed in Army records as "contraband," property seized from the enemy, and he made $10 a month. William Robeson took those humble beginnings and, within four years, was thriving in the rigorous curriculum of Lincoln University, the first college founded for blacks in the United States. Lincoln modeled its curriculum after the prestigious Oxford and Cambridge in England and required from its students the discipline to master Greek, Latin and classical literature. William Robeson graduated as an honors student from its divinity school and became a minister. Everything Paul Robeson did in his life he did with an eye toward the example his father had set, said Lloyd Brown, author of "The Young Paul Robeson" and co-author of "Here I Stand," with Robeson. "His father was his star to follow," Brown said. "He credited his father with everything he had done and who he had become." Paul's mother, Maria Louisa Robeson, burned to death when her clothes caught fire over a coal stove. Little Paul was only six years old. As Robeson grew from a boy into a young man in Somerville, New Jersey, he began to show glimpses of his promise. While he was in elementary school, Brown said the high-school baseball team would use him at shortstop when Somerville played an out-of-town team that wouldn't recognize the young ringer. "In high school he was one of the leading students, just brilliant in his studies," Brown said. "And he developed into an outstanding athlete."
When he was a senior, Robeson took an exam given as part of a scholarship competition to get into Rutgers College -- at that time a small men's college in New Jersey. "He scored the highest mark that had ever been made in that competition," Brown said. 'Robey' of Rutgers Once at Rutgers, Robeson was determined to try out for the football team. At the time, Robeson was the only Black at Rutgers and only the third ever to attend the college. The other young men made it clear that Robeson was not welcome at the very first scrimmage. One slugged him in the face and, while he was on the ground, another ran and jumped on him, landing a knee that dislocated Robeson's right shoulder. Brown's book,"The Young Paul Robeson," quotes Robeson's recollections of that first day of football practice: "Well, that night I was a very, very sorry boy. Broken nose, shoulder thrown out, and plenty of cuts and bruises. I didn't know whether I could take any more. But my father -- my father was born in slavery down in North Carolina -- had impressed me that when I was out on a football field or in a classroom or just anywhere else, I wasn't there just on my own. I was the representative of a lot of Negro boys who wanted to play football and wanted to go to college, and, as their representative, I had to show that I could take whatever was handed out." After 10 days in bed recovering from his injuries, Robeson returned and made the varsity. At the time, Robeson was only one of three black men playing college football in the United States. He became known as "Robey," and he excelled in football, being named an all-American in 1917 and 1918. On offense he played end, and on defense, he played a position that Rutgers coach George Foster Sanford called "defensive quarterback," where he roved the field, poking holes in the offense. He also kicked off, kicked extra points and called plays. Robeson also played basketball, baseball and ran track, winning 13 varsity letters in sports while at Rutgers. He also won the oratory award at Rutgers each of his four years there. "What was remarkable was, when he entered, he was the sole black there," Brown said. "And he had to make these achievements in an atmosphere that was hostile to him." Brown points out that Robeson was not permitted to attend the yearly honors banquet for the team, even though he won all the top awards. Honors banquets were held at hotel ballrooms and restaurants that did not admit Blacks. For a similar reason, Robeson could not sing with the Rutgers glee club since he couldn't enter many of the facilities where it performed. Segregation was a fact of life at Rutgers as well. Robeson had no roommate at Rutgers until his second year when another black student enrolled. Robeson experienced poor treatment from opposing teams, and he learned to bounce up from tackles before an opponent's cleats could break a finger or gouge a wound while he was down. When Washington and Lee University came to play Rutgers, the visitors from Virginia threatened to cancel the game if Robeson played. Robeson was taken out of the lineup for that game, but later, when other schools made similar requests, coach Sanford refused. Robeson was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, chosen for the Cap and Skull Honor Society, and voted the most outstanding graduate. He also was selected to deliver the valedictory address. Sadly, Robeson's father didn't live to see his son graduate and be embraced by Rutgers. The elder Robeson died in 1918. Brown went on to law school at Columbia University, a venture he financed himself by playing professional football on weekends. Professional football -- like most professional sports at the time -- had a certain amount of social stigma attached to it. So, Robeson kept his participation a secret, taking the train overnight to distant games after his last class on Friday and arriving back at Columbia in time for his first class on Monday. Robeson also met and married Eslanda Cordoza Goode (who would later become the first black woman to head a pathology laboratory) while he was at Columbia. They would have one child, Paul Robeson Jr. Robeson graduated from Columbia Law School in 1923, but his legal career -- in which he had only a limited interest -- was over quickly. He took a job as the only black attorney at the New York law firm of Stotesbury and Miner, but he resigned when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him. Breaking through more barriers While Robeson was still at Columbia, he took part in an amateur play in Harlem. Legendary playwright Eugene O'Neill saw him in one of those amateur productions and made him the lead in O'Neill's "All God's Chillun Got Wings." Despite bomb threats and an outrage in the popular media, Robeson played the lead opposite white actress Mary Blair, who played his wife. Robeson also played the lead in O'Neill's "The Emperor Jones," and he starred in Shakespeare's Othello in 1930. His role in Othello also was groundbreaking. "In America, no Black was allowed to play Othello," Brown said. "It was considered a violation of the moral code for a Black to play opposite a while woman." Robeson's 296 consecutive performances of Shakespeare on Broadway established a record that still stands, Brown said. It did not take long for the entertainment industry to discover Robeson's deep baritone singing voice, and he launched yet another career. "His initial idea was to make African-American music as acceptable as classical music," Brown said. Robeson also sang songs from many other countries, and he had a gift for foreign language. "He mastered some 18 languages in the time that I knew him," Brown said, "including some languages, like Czech, Hungarian and Mandarin Chinese, that were so difficult that you just didn't see people other than the native speakers learn them." Robeson's concert tours took him across the United States and abroad in Europe, the Soviet Union and Africa. His many plays included "Porgy and Bess" and "Showboat," for which he became famous for his rendition of the song "Old Man River." Robeson changed the words of the song from the resigned, "I'm tired of livin' and 'feared of dyin'..." to the resistant, "I must keep fightin' until I'm dying." Robeson's 11 movies included "Song of Freedom," "King Solomon's Mines" and "Jericho." As when he starred at Rutgers, Robeson still experienced the sting of racial discrimination. Etta Moten-Barnette, a black singer and actress on Broadway and in the movies, said Robeson was not immune to poor treatment. A 1931 graduate of the University of Kansas and now 97 years old, Moten-Barnette recalled a time in 1943 when her theater company was touring the United States with a production of "Porgy and Bess." Moten-Barnette was playing the lead role of Bess, and she recalled being treated well as the star, except in one particular Western city. When the stagehand went to fetch her hotel room key, he was told, " 'She's not supposed to stay here. Have her call the YWCA,' " Moten-Barnette recalled. Moten-Barnette inquired about the problem. "The young woman came from behind the desk and said, 'The truth is, Paul Robeson was here too, and he's singing at the college. We didn't accept him either,' " Moten-Barnette said. She added that the manager's father had specifically ordered that Robeson not be permitted to stay there. Robeson was staying with a professor's family at the college. Moten-Barnette -- despite her star status at the time -- spent the night on a hotel maid's couch. "The same thing had happened to Paul Robeson," she said. "And it was unusual for both of us at the time. It wasn't even in the South. "You see, (putting up with discrimination) was a matter of survival with us. We didn't have sit-ins or protest at that time. What we did, we avoided it." Moten-Barnette was a ground-breaker in her own right, having the distinction of playing the first black actress in a nonstereotypical role in a movie when she sang in "The Gold Diggers of 1933." "Before, I would have been a maid," she added. Moten-Barnette points to Robeson as a model for young people -- both then and now. "We have always had discrimination. It has always been and it will always be. "But you just have to have people like Paul Robeson who accomplish things. When you accomplish things, it pays off with most people and they respect you. So, like him, get as much education as you can and achieve as much as you can." Risking it all Robeson's international fame enabled him to launch yet another career -- that of political activist. "I think his most outstanding character was his attitude toward his people," Brown said. "In his (valedictory) speech in New Brunswick, he told the audience that he intended for his life to be dedicated to the principles of his father and dedicated to raising up his people to a higher standard. I'm sure people thought those were just platitudes then, but they weren't." In Robeson's valedictory speech, called "The New Idealism," he exhorted the mostly white crowd to fight for an ideal government where "character shall be the standard of excellence" and where "black and white shall clasp friendly hands in the consciousness of the fact that we are brethren and that God is the father of us all." Brown also pointed out that, again, Robeson was following in his father's footsteps. The elder Robeson had been reprimanded by church authorities early in his career for speaking out against social injustice in the community. Rather than back down, William Robeson drove coaches and hauled ashes to make ends meet until he began ministering at a different church. When Robeson became famous, he was able to use his fame to draw attention to social injustice, Brown said. "Early on he used his celebrity to help his people," Brown said. "As a matter of principle, he would not perform before any place that had segregation." Robeson spoke out against social injustice all over the world, and he was a vocal opponent of fascism. In 1933, he donated the proceeds from "All God's Chillun Got Wings" to Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's Germany. Robeson lent his talents to raise funds for leftist and anti-fascist causes, supporting strikes by Detroit auto workers and praising the Soviet Union for what he believed was its constitutional embrace of all nationalities and races. Robeson also approached Major League Baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and was among the first to ask Landis to remove the ban against Blacks in the major leagues. In January 1940, Robeson recorded "Ballad for Americans," a patriotic song that topped the charts. But by that time, his political views had made the FBI suspicious of him. After Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Robeson advocated that aid be sent to the Soviets. The FBI, which suspected Robeson was a member of the Communist Party, placed Robeson under surveillance. In 1942, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) included Robeson on a list of presumed Communists. Robeson continued to perform concerts and speak at rallies, receiving the Abraham Lincoln Medal for notable and distinguished service in human relations. That didn't prevent the FBI from naming him a leading Communist and issuing a "custodial detention card" that permitted his immediate arrest in a national emergency. In the fall of 1946, Robeson was called before the HUAC, where he was accused of being a Communist. Robeson denied the charge, calling himself an anti-fascist and an independent. In April 1949, a Robeson speech at the World Peace Congress was misquoted by the Associated Press (which reported him as saying that American Blacks would not fight in a foreign war). Several prominent black leaders who were called before the HUAC denounced Robeson, and two of his concerts were stopped by rioters. Robeson became the first American banned from television when NBC stopped his appearance on "Today with Mrs. Roosevelt." And Robeson was blacklisted by the same recording companies for which he had sold thousands of records only a few years before. After Robeson denounced the Korean War in 1950, he was asked to give up his passport. He refused and filed a suit with the State Department. In the meantime, Robeson was not allowed to travel overseas, the only place where he could still perform. Robeson sang in several countries via telephone until a 1958 Supreme Court decision forced the State Department to return his passport. Robeson then performed overseas for several years before ill health forced him home. When his wife Eslanda died in 1965, Robeson moved to the Philadelphia home of his sister Marian Robeson Forsythe, a retired school teacher who cared for him until his death in 1976. Belated honors In his lifetime, Robeson never expected to overcome the damage caused by being labeled a Communist sympathizer. "As a result of his activism, he lost his singing career, he lost his fame," Brown said. "He knew what was at stake. He still stuck to his principles, though." Only years after his death has Robeson's life been truly appreciated. Robeson was a member of the inaugural class of the Rutgers Hall of Fame in 1988, and he was finally inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1995. Earlier this year Robeson was awarded a posthumous Grammy lifetime achievement award. While Robeson sacrificed his recording contracts and his sold-out performances, he also sacrificed his place in history to the point that few young people have ever heard of him, and fewer still are aware of his many accomplishments. Paul Von Blum, who teaches a course on Paul Robeson at the University of California, Los Angeles, said Robeson's amazing accomplishments have been largely forgotten. "He is probably the most multifaceted talent in American history," Von Blum told The New York Times this spring. "You look at his career as a scholar, actor in film and theater, concert singer, athlete, advocate for his people, it's an amazing legacy. But the vast majority of students who take my course have never heard of him." Perhaps the centennial celebrations will change that.
Events mark Robeson's "There are more than 100 committees working worldwide on tributes," said Mark Rogovin, chair of one of those groups, the Paul Robeson 100th Birthday Committee, which is operating out of Columbia College in Chicago. Rogovin encourages interested parties to refer to the committee's Web site at www.cs.uchicago.edu/cpsr/robeson/ for a summary of most events. Because Robeson was involved in a variety of activities throughout his life and because he was talented in so many arenas, his celebrations have been diverse. "There have already been more than 400 events worldwide, and people come at it from different aspects," Rogovin said. "Some people celebrate his sports achievements, some have festivals of his music, others watch his films or perform plays. "His life is not easy to describe. You could take some of the critical civil rights activists and give a quick synopsis of their lives. You can't do that with Robeson. He was a true Renaissance man." Rogovin, like others who are coordinating activities to celebrate Robeson's life, hopes that young people will embrace Robeson as a role model. "Here is a role model who should be looked upon and studied by young people," he said. "When people are learning about black history, they should learn about Robeson. But when people are learning about American history, they also should learn about Robeson." One exhibit that will be traveling across the country is The Paul Robeson Centennial Project, developed by the Paul Robeson Cultural Center at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, in conjunction with numerous other institutions. It is a multimedia, retrospective exhibition and series of public programs. The project will be in Los Angeles from now until December. It will be in Washington, D.C., from February to April 1999 and in New York City from June to September. Paul Robeson's life can and does appeal to young people today, said C. Keith Harrison, director of The Paul Robeson Research Center for Academic and Athletic Prowess and assistant professor of sports management and communication in the division of kinesiology at the University of Michigan. Young people can be drawn to Robeson because of his athletics achievements, and then they can learn about his scholarly pursuits as well, Harrison said. "Young people all want to be 'ballers,'" Harrison said, referring to young people's desires to be athletes. "Let's get them to be 'scholar-ballers,' like Paul Robeson." For more information on Paul Robeson and centennial events, see http://www.mis.net.au/freshair/robeson/sites.htm and www.rutgers.edu/robeson. -- Kay Hawes |
Long before the term student-athlete was even coined and long before professional athletes commanded millions of dollars for success in multiple sports, there was Paul Robeson.
One of a half dozen black students at Somerville, Robeson played football, baseball, and basketball, and he also served as sports editor of the school's monthly magazine. He participated in debate, sang with the glee club and acted with the drama group. Occasionally, he addressed his father's congregation and delivered a Sunday sermon when his father was out of town.