Paul Robeson

Children's Literature

Paul Robeson was born in 1898 in Princeton, New Jersey, as the youngest of five children. He was a multi-talented person who earned a law degree, but was mostly known for his acting abilities. After college, Robeson acted on stage and in the movies. He also fought against laws that were unjust to African Americans. Author Healy traces Robeson's life from his early years in Princeton where his father was a preacher and his mother a homemaker. At the age of five Robeson's mother died and Robeson's father raised the five children. Robeson was allowed to continue his education because his father wanted him to have a college education. Although there wasn't money to send him to college, Robeson was a bright boy and was able to attend Rutgers University on a scholarship. Robeson was one of two African Americans on the campus when he began classes in 1915, and he experienced racial prejudice. After graduation, Robeson went to Columbia University where he earned a law degree, but when finished, he decided to find acting work in New York. He had acted in college and found he enjoyed this type of creative expression. Robeson acted in many plays in the United States and in London, but he was living in a segregated country and his political ideas sometimes caused him trouble. In 1934, he traveled to Russia where he was cheered and welcomed, and he believed that people were treated fairly under a communist government. When he returned to the United States, Robeson talked about his visit to the Soviet Union, praising the country for treating people with respect. Many Americans didn't agree with him and his popularity decreased. Although Robeson denied that he was a communist, he was not believedbecause his praise continued. Eventually, Robeson regained some of his lost popularity. Although Paul Robeson was a controversial figure, author Healy manages to present a well-balanced picture of an imperfect man trying to find a place for himself in a segregated world. Good black-and-white photographs accompany the text as well as a timeline, glossary, and further reading section. 2003, Raintree, Yannuzzi

School Library Journal

Gr 3-5-In the introduction to each book, the author captures readers' attention by highlighting the subjects' accomplishments, talents, and abilities. Their lives are then presented as straightforward chronological narratives. Good-quality, archival photos and colorful sidebars appear throughout. However, in Garvey, the information is repetitious and conflicting. Readers are told that, "Garvey was strongly affected by one book he read in London. The book was called Up From Slavery, by Booker T. Washington." Several pages later, Donovan writes, "Not long after Garvey returned to Jamaica in 1914, he read a book called Up From Slavery." She goes on to repeat who Washington was and the views he espoused in his autobiography. In Bethune, most of the boldface words are defined in context, making the glossary unnecessary. Robeson is more problematic as the dates given for the Civil War are inaccurate. In referring to the time that Robeson's father escaped from slavery, Healy writes, "The year was 1860, and the Civil War (1860-1864) between the North and the South was about to begin." Also, the time line indicates that Robeson's wife died in 1964. She actually died in 1965, accurately noted in the text. These attractively formatted but flawed titles are not first purchases.-Tracy Bell, Durham Public Schools, NC Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.