8 20 Paul Robeson All American

teacher here and today we're going to be reading Paul Robison All American in his 1958 autobiography Paul Robison tells of bringing home from school a test on which he had scored 99 out of a possible 100 when his father reproached him for not getting a perfect score Paul tried to explain that no one ever gets 100 his father's rejoinder was a simple question then why do they have it so we're going to learn about um Paul Robison and who he was what he did so here when he brought his test with a 99 score to his father his father reproached him right he um kind of scolded him right why didn't you get a perfect score right and when Paul tried to explain that no one gets 100 his father um asked them why do they have it right showing that he should be motivated to even get 100 even though he may not think it's possible robison's father had encountered and overcome great difficulties in his life born an enslaved person in 1845 he escaped to Freedom at the age of 15 and joined the Union Army at the outbreak of the Civil War later he attended Lincoln University near Philadelphia and was an ordained a minister at a time when African-Americans were expected to be serval Mr Robison was a strong advocate of racial Justice and equality so um his father robison's father um led a really difficult life um but he was able to get Freedom at 15 join the Army um right when the Civil War started he went to Lincoln University and became a minister um even at a time when African-Americans were um prejudiced against and there was a lot of problems with racial Justice and equality as Robison instilled a strong sense of purpose and principle in his eight children he demanded much of them Paul the youngest born in 1898 especially Rose to the challenge in 1915 he won a four-year scholarship to Rucker College however as the third African-American student ever to attend and the only one enrolled at the time he felt alienated from his classmates his presence on campus provoked both verbal and physical abuse from his more overtly racist students but Robison showed great forbearance in the face of these attacks his response was to excel in everything he attempted he won prizes for public speaking and served on the student council he earned 12 Varsity letters in football baseball basketball and track in 1917 and 1918 he earned a place on the All-American football team he ended his final year with the highest grades of his graduating class so because um Robison was uh very strong and went through a lot he demanded that his children also strive to achieve greatness so the youngest Paul robon Paul ended up um achieving greatness through his um college so he went to this um very good college he was the only African-American in the school at the time so he was very different very alienated from his classmat but still he did many great things during his time at school he won many prizes Varsity letters and he ended up placing on the All-American football team ending with the highest grades in his graduating class to finance and education at Columbia Law School Robison worked at various jobs playing professional football and acting in plays on weekends however after graduation he practiced law only briefly he was hired by a white law firm in New York City but the pervasive racism he encountered led him to abandon that career he believed he would be prevented from working effectively as a lawyer instead Robison began devoting his time to acting and plays and giving concerts in which he sang spirituals the traditional folk songs of African-Americans his Rich deep expressive singing voice along with the friendly warm Rapport he developed with his audiences made him a successful and popular performer so he went to law school and acted in plays but um at the end of the day he decided to just be um a performer and he became very very popular because of his really good um singing voice within a few years robison's Fame was worldwide his performance as aell marked the first Broadway appearance by an African-American actor in that role the production's 296 performances surpassed the record of any previous Broadway Shakespearean drama later in Showboat when he Sayang Old Man River on opening night the Ovation he received was overwhelming the song became forever associated with Rison so if you ever hear the song Old Man River um Robison is the one who made it really really popular as he tour countries around the world performing in concerts and the theater Robison recognized similarities between the struggles of poor working people in America and those of people in other countries along with his regularly scheduled concerts he often gave additional performances with a low admission price so that any who wished to hear him sing could attend he refused to perform in theaters that had segregated seating through both song and speech he conveyed a message of peace freedom and Racial equality for All Peoples so um he was a very kind and generous person he wanted poor people to be able to come see his plays and hear him sing so he made sure the ticket price was very low and he refused to perform in theaters where they had segregating seating so white people one section black people and another he refused to have it like that so he was really a man of freedom and peace and Racial equality throughout the 1930s and the 1940s Robison was lionized wherever he went tens of thousands of people attended his concerts however after World War II Robison was deeply disturbed by the unfair treatment that he saw in his own country returning African-American soldiers who had fought for the freedom of European citizens continued to be treated as second-class Citizens back in the United States Robison spoke out fervently against this both in the United States and in other countries so he saw the unfairness that um people in the United States were treating the African-American Soldiers with even though those same soldiers had been fighting for the freedom of European citizens during the war the same as um the white soldiers were the United States government regarding both his views and his words as inflammatory acted in 1950 his passport was confiscated Robison was vilified in the press as a communist because of his political beliefs he was called gullible for his continuing support of and friendship with the Soviet people after these attacks his popularity with American audience say declined sharply he was forbidden to leave the country unless he recanted his political views this he would not do concert Halls record companies and television stations refused to have anything to do with him these hindrances prevented him from continuing his life as an artist so in 1950 they took away his passport he was no longer able to leave the United States um because the government thought that Robison had um had um political beliefs that were too intense or wrong um just because his beliefs were um equality of others so this made him become much less popular in the United States and he was unable to continue as a singer in 1958 his passport was returned in part as a result of pressure exerted by his supporters in countries throughout the world Robison was able to resume performing in concerts and speaking his mind he called his autobiography here I stand and no one was ever in doubt where Robison stood on the issues of racial equality and freedom so because of his supporters in other countries eight years later in 1958 he was able to get his passport back um and he was able to continue performing thank you for reading with us today we do have links that are related to each article if you guys want the link related to this one here you you can find it down in the description below