Paul Robeson rose to national and international fame as a multi-talented black man from the most humble beginnings. Paul was born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, the son on a man who himself had been a slave. William Drew Robeson, Paul's father, was born into slavery in the small town of Robersonville, in Martin County, North Carolina, on July 27, 1845. The determination to expand himself and succeed was as strong in William as it would prove to be in Paul, for William "escaped as a young man of 15 and headed north to freedom via the Underground Railway." Years later, William "had educated himself in the finest classical tradition and graduated from Lincoln University's divinity school."
William also showed the determination he would pass on to his son in the fact that it was fifteen years after his escape from slavery in 1860 before he was able to go to Lincoln University. William, like other slaves, might have no longer been considered private property of another, but he was no completely free, and he had to struggle for every inch of education, dignity and liberty which he received. He would pass on his courage and persistence to his son.
William met Maria Louisa Bustill at Lincoln University and married her in 1878. He was soon a practicing minister of the Witherspoon Presbyterian Church in Princeton. Five of their born children would survive: William Drew, Jr., who became a doctor; Reeve; Benjamin, who was also a preacher; Marion, who was a teacher; and, the last of the children, Paul. The one son who did not secure a profession was "unsuccessful" because he would not endure the slightest racist action directed toward him, and so was always in trouble for fighting.
This encapsulation of Paul's family may sound as if the Robesons lived a rather comfortable life of easy success---two ministers, a teacher, a doctor, and the multi-layered success and fame of Paul. In reality, Paul had a poverty-ridden chi...