Office of Student Life & Associated Student Body
present
Musical Theater
featuring
KB Solomon
Internationally-known Basso Profundo
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
7:00 p.m.
Student Lounge
El Camino College Compton Center
1111 E. Artesia Blvd., Compton, CA 90221
In Observance of Black History Month
THIS EVENT IS FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
The El Camino Community College District is committed to providing equal opportunity in which no person is subjected to discrimination on the basis of ethnic
group identification, national origin, religion, age, sex, race, color, ancestry, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or retaliation.
Paul Robeson
Civil & Human Rights activist, all American & professional football
star, class valedictorian, lawyer, internationally renown stage and film
star, and celebrated recording artist.
Star Athlete and Academic
Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, N.J. He was the son of a former slave, born
and raised during a period of segregation, lynching and open racism.
When he was 17, Robeson earned a scholarship to attend Rutgers University, the third African
American to do so, and became one of the institutions most stellar students. He received top honors
for his debate and oratory skills, won 15 letters in four varsity sports, was elected Phi Beta Kappa,
and became his class valedictorian.
Then from 1920 to 1923, Robeson earned a degree from Columbia University’s law school, teaching Latin and playing professional football on the weekend to pay tuition.
Major Force on Stage & Screen
Robeson starred in Shakespeare’s Othello, the musical Showboat, The Emperor Jones, All God’s
Chillun Got Wings and other stage productions and in films such as Jericho and Proud Valley . He
also starred in African-American director Oscar Micheaux’s 1925 work, Body and Soul. Robeson
continued to make waves in London in 1928 with his star turn on stage in Showboat, where he
brought the house down with “OI’ Man River”, a song that would become his signature. He established both a singing and film career and would be featured in six British films in the 1930s. He was
one of the top performers of his time, earning more money than many white performers. His concert
career spanned the globe: Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Moscow,
New York, and Nairobi.
Activism and a Curtailed Career
A beloved international figure, Robeson regularly spoke out against racial injustice and was involved in world politics. He supported Pan-Africanism, sang for Loyalist soldiers during Spain’s
civil war, took part in anti-Nazi demonstrations and performed for Allied forces during WW II. He
also visited the Soviet Union several times during the mid-1930s. Taken by much of its culture and
ideas.
Back in the United States, he once again received accolades for his stage work in the 1943 Broadway production Othello. Yet McCarthyism and Cold War paranoia was on the rebound. Robeson
found himself contending with government officials looking to silence a voice who spoke out eloquently against racism and had political ties that could be vilified. Robeson was labeled a communist and was barred by the State Department from renewing his passport in 1950 to travel abroad for
engagements. Despite his immense popularity, he was blacklisted from domestic concert venues,
recording labels, and film studios.
A Lasting Legacy
Robeson published his biography, Here I Stand, in 1958, the same year that he won the right to have
his passport reinstated. Robeson again traveled internationally and received a number of accolades
for his work, but damage had been done, as he suffered from debilitating depression and related
health problems. Robeson and his family returned to the United States in 1963. After his wife
Eslanda’s death in 1965, the artist lived with his sister. Robeson died from a stroke on January 23,
1976, at the age of 77, in Philadelphia.
www.biography.com/people/paul-robeson-9460451