A federal appeals court delivered a split decision in the high-profile case against Marilyn Mosby, the former Baltimore State’s Attorney who rose to national...

“Put a face on the deadliness of this big, bad, deadly, ugly bill.” That is what Reverend William Barber says as he conducts Moral Mondays...

(Black PR Wire) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has awarded Dr. Rebecca Harris-Smith the Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international distinction...

People in the News

Friday, July 18, 2025

People in the News

Friday, July 18, 2025

Black history spotlight for Oct. 19, 2012: Paul Robeson

Paul Robeson was a famous African-American athlete, singer, actor, and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world. He rose to prominence in a time when segregation was legal in the United States, and Black people were being lynched by racist mobs, especially in the South.

On Oct. 19, 1943, Paul Robeson was the opening act in Othello at the Shubert Theater in New York City. The show ran for 296 consecutive performances.

Born on Apr. 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, Paul Robeson was the youngest of five children. His father was a runaway slave who went on to graduate from Lincoln University, and his mother came from an abolitionist Quaker family. Robeson’s family knew both hardship and the determination to rise above it. His own life was no less challenging.

In 1915, Paul Robeson won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University. Despite violence and racism from teammates, he won 15 varsity letters in sports (baseball, basketball, track) and was twice named to the All-American Football Team. He received the Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year, belonged to the Cap & Skull Honor Society, and graduated as Valedictorian.

However, it was not until 1995, 19 years after his death, that Paul Robeson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.