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Paul Robeson was a man who was never given credit for what he did. He starred in many plays and sang in many concerts, and he was also an outstanding athlete. He was even in the prestigious Phi Beta Kappa honor society. On top of all of this, he was a civil rights activist. On April 9th, 1898, Paul Leroy Robeson was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He was the youngest of five children. His father had escaped from slavery and became a Presbyterian minister. His mother was from a distinguished Philadelphian family. She burned to death in a stove fire accident, in 1904. For schooling, young Robeson went to a segregated school. For college, he won a scholarship to Rutgers when he was 17 years old. After that year of high school, Robeson immediately went to college. He began to speak out about racism in college. He played four varsity sports in college (baseball, basketball, football, track and field). He was the star running back on the football team and the star catcher on the baseball team. He won 15 sport letters for his efforts. He was also elected twice to the Collegiate All-American Football Team. He also supported himself in the course of his college career by playing professional football on the weekends. During college, Robeson became a member of “The Cap and Skull Honor Society” due to the fact that he studied Latin, Greek, Physics, Math, and History. He was doing very well in all of these classes. Robeson used his power in the honor society to get the word out about racism in America and the rest of the World.
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