125th Celebration of Events

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This year, the Paul Robeson House & Museum is celebrating the 125th birthday of Paul Leroy Robeson. Robeson was a man of many talents - football star, singer, actor, lawyer, activist, orator, linguist. He was also an unabashed advocate for the civil and human rights of people considered outsiders - African Americans in his own country and oppressed people all over the world.

Robeson was outspoken during the era of McCarthyism in this country. The U.S. government and many of its citizens considered his cordiality with the Soviet Union as a sign that he was a communist. He was made a pariah, and he was literally wiped from U.S. history. Those of us who believe in him and what he stood for are destined to preserve his legacy and praise his name. This celebration is part of our mission. So, we invite you to participate in the acknowledgment of this Renaissance man.

During this Black History Month, we are offering a series of vignettes from Robeson’s life as a prelude to the birthday celebration from April 8-15, 2023. The series will remind the country and the world of Robeson’s contributions, and the price he paid for speaking out against racism and oppression. Robeson was born on April 9, 1898.

As we approach his birthday, the Robeson House and its counterparts across the United States (the Paul Robeson Alliance) are recognizing him with a flurry of activities from April 8-15, 2023. You can find more information about the celebration on the Robeson House website (paulrobesonhouse.org) as well as the alliance's website (paulrobesonalliance.org).

Join us for a bus trip from Philadelphia to Princeton, NJ, on Friday morning, April 8, 2023, for a walking tour of the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood that was the birth home of Paul Leroy Robeson. The tour will be followed by a program at the Princeton Public Library featuring speaker Dr. Jessica J. Williams, Black feminist artist and educator, and a tour of an exhibit in the library’s Princeton Room. Lunch is included.

The Rev. William Drew Robeson and his wife Maria Louisa Bustill lived in this now-historic neighborhood with Robeson, his three brothers and one sister. Rev. Robeson was pastor of the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church until he was ousted when Paul was about three years old. White church officials said that the pastor was derelict in his duties; Rev. Robeson’s parishioners said that he was removed because he spoke out against social injustices. He was pastor for 20 years before his son was born in 1898.

Witherspoon-Jackson was Princeton’s Black neighborhood, begun in earnest in the early 19th century. Like many Black neighborhoods during those segregated times, it was “proud, self-sufficient and self-sustaining,” as noted by the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society. Black people built their own churches, beauty and barber shops, ice cream parlors, restaurants, clothing stores, school and cemetery. They were also trained carpenters, teachers, lawyers and physicians.

The society has erected 29 plaques that relate the story of the establishments important to the history of the neighborhood, including Witherspoon and three other churches; the School for Colored Children, founded in 1873; Pearl Moore Allen Tavern, a meeting place, and the Elks Home, still in operation.

Robeson recalled later that Blacks lived a “communal” life in the neighborhood, bound together by the churches.

Join us for a bus trip from Philadelphia to Easter-morning services at Mother A.M.E. Zion Church in Harlem, NY, on April 9, 2023, the birthdate of Paul Leroy Robeson. The pastor is Rev. Dr. Malcolm J. Byrd. Brunch is included, on Columbia University campus.

Mother A.M.E. Zion was the church of the Robeson family for more than 50 years. Robeson’s brother the Rev. Benjamin C. Robeson pastored there from 1936 to 1963, and was an activist minister. Robeson sang and spoke there often during his brother’s tenure. It was one of the few institutions that welcomed him after the U.S. government and much of the country made him a pariah because of his activism and his cordiality toward the Soviet Union. Robeson’s funeral service was held at the church in 1976.

The church was founded in 1796, and its current building was designed by George W. Foster Jr., a Black architect. Throughout its history, the church attracted such Black luminaries as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Marian Anderson, Joe Louis and Roland Hayes.

Mother A.M.E. Zion was called the “Freedom Church” because of its role in the abolitionist movement, and it was an Underground Railroad hideaway for enslaved Africans escaping slavery. Among its members was Sojourner Truth

Join us for a timely panel discussion on Black Americans featuring longtime activist Fredrika Newton, president and co-founder of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation in Oakland, CA. Newton, widow of Huey Newton, is a former Black Panther Party member.

The event will be both live and virtual. It will be held at the Historic Belmont Mansion.

The aim of the foundation is to provide an accurate history of the Party based on Huey’s archives, to preserve its legacy and commemorate its work. The archives are located at Stanford University. Huey and Bobby Seale founded the party in 1966.

The foundation has developed educational materials, organized forums and exhibited historical documents from the Party archives. In 2021, a bust of Huey was installed in Oakland, and the street where he was killed in 1989 was designated “Dr. Huey P. Newton Way.” The foundation’s seeks to ensure that the Party has a permanent space in Oakland’s history through a monument, pop-up exhibits and a museum. Fredricka believes that the Party helped set the stage and cleared the path for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The panel will also feature Solomon Jones, commentator/author/columnist; activist Michael Africa Jr. of the MOVE Archival Project, among others. A reception will be held before the panel discussion.

Event Host

Paul Robeson House Events