The Criterion Collection

There quite simply has never been anyone like Paul Robeson. A trailblazer in every cultural and political arena of which he was a part—as a screen star, stage performer, singer, athlete, and activist—Robeson is a titan of American history. Not only did he help break barriers for African Americans, he worked tirelessly against all kinds of injustice around the world, using his commanding bass-baritone to speak for those who didn’t have a voice. Today, we remember the icon, who was born on April 9, 1898, as a performer and a righteous citizen of the world.

Born in Princeton, New Jersey, Robeson was valedictorian of Rutgers University’s class of 1919, the third black student ever enrolled there. (While attending, he played for the school football team, and he proved such a natural at the sport that after college he briefly tried his hand at it professionally.)

Robeson established himself as a formidable stage actor in the 1920s, starring in such works as Eugene O’Neill’s All God’s Chillun Got Wings and The Emperor Jones in New York and Jerome Kern’s musical Show Boat (pictured), featuring his renowned interpretation of “Ol’ Man River,” in London.

One of Robeson’s stage triumphs was a 1930 production at London’s West End Savoy Theatre of Shakespeare’s Othello, opposite Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona.

Robeson became the first black star famous enough to receive above-the-title billing in his performances, on stage and screen.

Robeson’s fascination with the art of cinema and its ability to make political statements led him to collaborate with cutting-edge avant-garde artists like the Scottish intellectual Kenneth Macpherson, who made the Eisensteinian silent film Borderline. Above is a photo of Robeson on the set of that production in 1930.

Robeson’s continued success in theater and film, as well as his increasing popularity as a singer and orator, made him the world’s first black superstar.

In the unique position of being a respected black celebrity in the Jim Crow era, Robeson began to devote himself to social and political causes across the nation.

Robeson believed that labor unions were essential to basic human rights, as well as fighting racial discrimination in the workplace, and he became a regular presence at labor rallies around the world.

Robeson’s leftist politics and pro–Soviet Union sympathies led to his being summoned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (resulting in his being blacklisted in Hollywood), and his passport being revoked. During his testimony, Robeson said, “My father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?”

Memorials were held all over the United States when Robeson died in 1976, at the age of seventy-seven, of complications from a stroke. He is remembered today not only as a mesmerizing performer but also as a man committed to asserting human dignity and eradicating prejudice wherever he could.

All photos courtesy and © the Paul Robeson Jr. Collection