The life of singer, actor, lawyer, civil rights activist and athlete Paul Robeson will be remembered in an exhibit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from Oct. 9 through Jan 25.
UNC’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History will host “Body and Soul: Paul Robeson, Race and Representation,” an exhibit of memorabilia that examines uses of Robeson’s physical image throughout his lengthy career.
An opening reception for the exhibit will be free to the public at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 at the center, located on South Road just west of the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower. Afterward, the exhibit, in the center’s Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery and Museum, will be free to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays.
Approximately 85 items on display will include film and theater posters; playbills; album, book and magazine covers; newspaper reviews; prints and other materials.
The exhibit will encompass a wide range of Robeson imagery, from his earlier, problematic roles as a Hollywood-produced African to photographs of Robeson speaking at labor union rallies and performing recitals in Europe. Also on display will be fine art portraits of Robeson by leading 20th-century artists and photographers including Jacob Epstein, Gordon Parks, Edward Steichen and Charles White.
“Paul Robeson was highly recognizable throughout much of the 20th century, and his political activities were as well publicized as his numerous recordings and film, theatrical and concert appearances,” said Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, exhibit curator and Stone Center assistant director. “Yet above all, it was Robeson’s body, his physical appearance, that was of singular importance for many throughout his career.”
Indeed, Robeson (1898-1976) was a superb athlete, winning 15 varsity letters in sports at Rutgers University. But he attended Rutgers on a four-year academic scholarship. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and the university honor society and was valedictorian of his graduating class in 1919. He earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1923 and began work with a law firm, but he soon left after a white secretary refused to take dictation from him.
Robeson went on to pursue his talents in music and theater for approximately four decades. He appeared in 13 films and lent his rich baritone to shows including “Othello,” “Porgy and Bess” and “Showboat.” He traveled the world singing and speaking in favor of civil and human rights, peace and justice.
The Stone Center exhibit draws from the collection of brother and sister Alden and Mary Kimbrough of Los Angeles. Their collection began in 1932 with a gift to their father, the late Dr. Jack Kimbrough: a copy of “Paul Robeson, Negro,” written by Robeson’s wife, Eslanda, signed and dated by Robeson.
Alden Kimbrough plans to attend the opening reception. For more information, call the center, (919) 962-9001 or visit http://www.unc.edu/depts/stonecenter.
Rutgers’ Robeson Web site: http://prcc.rutgers.edu/Robeson/biography.htm
Photo: For a photo from the exhibit, click http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/releases/robeson_john%20jenry.jpg
Cutline: Paul Robeson as John Henry in Roark Bradford’s musical “John Henry,” 1940
Credit: Photo courtesy of the Alden and Mary Kimbrough Collection.
Stone Center contact: Olympia Friday, (919) 962-7265 or ofriday@email.unc.edu
News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589