in the home, and the boy after that focused on his father. When Paul was eight, his father was removed from his post in a congregational dispute and had to find another way of making a living. He hauled ashes with a wagon and horse and served as a coachman for students. When Paul was seventeen, he and his father moved to Westfield where the elder Robeson acquired a new congregation, later moving to still another congregation in Somerville, New Jersey.
In high school and college, Paul was exposed to the writings of W.E.B. DuBois, the black educator, writer, and sociologist, who had strongly argued against limiting blacks in school or any area of life. DuBois had also helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Paul was very bright but did not always apply himself to his studies as he should have. He nurtured his singing talent, serving as Sunday school superintendent in his father's church and helping lead singing with his as yet untrained but talented voice. When he finished high school, Paul won a scholarship to Rutgers and saw this victory as the turning point in his life, knowing that he was one of the few blacks to attend class at Rutgers and viewing this as a special accomplishment for all black people. He felt a special responsibility in his studies at college and excelled, being elected to the honor society in his junior year and using his athletic ability on the football team--he was named twice to the All-American football team. Academically, he reached the head of the class and gave the commencement address.
Education for Malcolm X was a much more difficult proposition and came to him only later in life. The vital importance of education is emphasized again and again in The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as is the need for a better understanding of the development of a black identity in American society (which concerned Robeson as well). Malcolm X was born in 1925, and his f...