In this week’s edition of The Showplace blog, ATVN’s Artie Freeman shares his opinions and insights on several of classic film and television’s greatest entertainers.
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Paul Robeson was known for his deep, bass baritone voice. He was a concert artist, stage and film actor, athlete, and activist. The level of his intelligence is incomprehensible. He wrote and spoke over twenty languages. That fact stands out; due to racial discrimination at the time there weren’t many Black people who could read, write, and fluently speak English.
Prior to his graduation, he was named class valedictorian and won a statewide academic contest for a scholarship to Rutgers University.
In 1915, Robeson attended Rutgers University on that academic scholarship. He was only the third Black student to attend Rutgers, and the only one at the time. I can’t begin to imagine living on a college campus where no one else looked like me. There’s a common misconception that racism in America was only confined to the South.
He joined the football team and endured physical abuse from his teammates resulting in a dislocated shoulder and broken nose. He was benched for one game when a Southern football team refused to play a team that had a Black man. Robeson was the first Black man to play football for Rutgers University. While at Rutgers, he was a two-time All-American in football and valedictorian of his senior class in 1919.
He received his law degree from Columbia Law School while playing football in the American Professional Football Association, later renamed The National Football League. He was recruited by Fritz Pollard, pro football’s first Black coach, to play for The Akron Pros in 1921. The next season he played for The Milwaukee Badgers in 1922.
After graduation, he became a figure in the Harlem Renaissance with performances in 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 while living in London, he was the character Joe, the dockworker who sings “Ol’ Man River” in the theatre production, Show Boat. Robeson’s character Joe was expanded from the novel and written specifically for Paul Robeson due to his range as an actor and singer. He played Joe in four productions of Show Boat: the 1928 London premiere production, the 1932 Broadway revival, the 1936 film version and a 1940 stage revival in Los Angeles.
While living in London he worked as a concert artist and starred in the theatre production of Othello, the first of three productions of the play over the course of his career.
In 1933 he starred in the film The Emperor Jones; this is the first film to cast a Black person as the star of the film.
In 1943 he reprised the role of Othello in the Broadway production. As of today, this is the longest-running non-musical production of a Shakespeare play ever to be staged in the United States. Othello ran for nine months at the same theatre and then went on a U.S. tour.
At the time, Robeson’s Othello couldn’t be adapted for film due to racial restrictions. A Black man could not do a love scene with a White woman in a motion picture in the 1940s.
In 1942 he made his last film appearance, refusing to make any more films because the roles being offered to Black people were demeaning.
In 1950 Robeson was blacklisted as a Communist for his political beliefs and criticizing racism in the United States. As a result, his recordings and films were removed from public distribution in the United States. These actions made it impossible to hear Robeson’s music on commercial radio, buy his music, or see his films. In addition to being blacklisted, the State Department denied Robeson a passport eliminating his ability to work abroad. Robeson was essentially a prisoner, free to wander the streets.
In 1958 the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated his passport due to the fact that it had been revoked without due process, violating his constitutional rights. Robeson was now free to travel and resume his career in Europe.
Unfortunately, Robeson’s mental health began to deteriorate in the early 1960s culminating in suicide attempts. In London, he received electroshock treatment and high doses of drugs, but no psychotherapy.
In 1963 Robeson’s family was displeased with the care he received in London and got him transferred to a clinic in East Berlin. The doctors in East Berlin were appalled at the previous treatment administered in London. There he received proper psychotherapy and less medications that led to his health improvement.
In December 1963, Robeson returned to the United States, retired and lived in seclusion. In 1965 his wife, Essie, passed away. Following her death, he moved in with his son’s family and then with his sister in 1968 until his death in 1976.
Here of a few posthumous accolades that Paul Robeson received:
In 1988, he was inducted into the Rutgers Football Hall of Fame.
In 1995, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 1998, he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In January 2004, a 37-cent USA commemorative postage stamp in the Black Heritage series was made with his picture on it.
It’s sad that such a brilliant man who was so committed to humanity was ostracized and condemned for his beliefs. It would have been so wonderful had he been alive to receive the above awards and recognition he so deserved.
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Be on the lookout for more contributions from Artie Freeman in future “Showplace” posts. Artie provides great introductions to many of the classic movies airing weekly on ATVN’s “Movie Vault” and also hosts “Take 5” interviews featuring unique people and community leaders in our viewing area.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Astound Broadband or any other agency, organization, employer or company.