When you think of actors, you imagine someone whose job it is to give up their self-identity to take on that of another. Usually, that character is some larger than life fiction. But Paul Robeson was such a powerful stage presence that the role in history was written for him. In that way, he embodied a true American role model. Born in Princeton NJ, a very segregated area in 1898, his father was a runaway slave turned minister. He did very well in high school and college, ultimately graduating as valedictorian of Columbia law school. After that, he became a very famous singer and actor. He used his popularity to not only speak out for American civil rights but for the rights of oppressed people all around the world. Later, during the McCarthyism era, his loyalty to the USSR and his disdain towards the American Govt placed him under scrutiny from multiple international Governments.…show more content… In this transcript, Robeson is fighting for his passport back. He used his theatrical talent to make sure that everyone was listening to him and that his words would be taken seriously. He used his intelligence to know when to call into use the fifth amendment and what to say. And finally, he used his ethics to keep fighting for his passport. As stated by BLANK in his book Paul Robeson: a Watched Man “SOMETHING ABOUT HOW MANY APPS IN A YEAR IDK.”
Paul Robeson, the actor, the man and the statesman found himself on the largest stage in the nation. It would be easy for someone to get lost, to lose his bearing, or sense of what is right. But Paul Robeson was not just a person at the right place at the right time. Instead, he was the person the role was written for. And because of that, he is a very prominent person in American
