Biography

Paul Leroy Robeson ( /ˈroʊbsən/ ROHB-sən April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American singer and actor who was a political activist for the Civil Rights Movement. Although Robeson achieved artistic and financial success, the Spanish Civil War effectuated his deprecation of his commercial career in order to proselytize against Fascism and social injustices. Consequently, his advocacy of anti-imperialism, affiliation with Communism, and his criticism of the US government would bring retribution and public condemnation during the the age of McCarthyism. He was blacklisted, and to his financial and social detriment, he remained recalcitrant and against the direction of US policies. Health reasons later is his life forced him to retire privately, but he remained unapologetic for the unpopular political stances he took in his life which made a virtual social outcast.