Paul Robeson was a famous athlete, singer, actor and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world. He became famous at a time when segregation was legal in America and blacks were lynched by white mobs, especially in the South. Born on April 9, 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, Paul Robeson was the youngest of five children. His father was a fugitive slave who graduated from Lincoln University, and his mother came from a Quaker family who worked to abolish slavery. His family knew the difficulties and the determination to overcome them. His life was no less challenging. In 1915 Paul won a four-year academic scholarship to Rutgers University. Despite the overt violence and racism expressed by teammates, Robeson won 15 varsity letters in sports (baseball, basketball, track and field) and was twice named to the All American Football Team. He received a Phi Beta Kappa key his senior year, belonged to the Cap & Skull Honor Society, and was the Valedictorian of his graduating class of 1919. However, it was not until 1995, nineteen years after his death, that Paul Robeson was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame. At Columbia Law School (1919-1923), Paul met and married Dr. Eslanda Cordoza Goode, who would become the first black woman to run a pathology laboratory. He took a job at a law firm, but left when a white secretary refused to take his dictation. He decided to abandon the practice of law and use his artistic talents in theater and music to promote African American history and culture. On the London stage, Robeson won international critical acclaim for his starring role in Othello, winning the Donaldson Award for Best Performance. ......middle of paper ......fights for all people. This accusation nearly ended his career. Eighty of his concerts were canceled, and in 1949 two outdoor concerts in Peekskill, New York, were attacked by white mobs while state police stood by complacently. In response, Robeson declared, "I will sing wherever people want me to sing...and I will not be frightened by crosses burned in Peekskill or anywhere else." an eight-year battle to secure it and to travel again. During those years, Robeson studied Chinese, met with Albert Einstein to discuss the prospects for world peace, published his autobiography, Here I Stand, and sang at Carnegie Hall. In 1960, Robeson made his last concert tour abroad. Suffering from health problems, Paul Robeson retired from public life in 1963. He died on January 23, 1976 at the age of 77 in Philadelphia.