American singer and actor. Born 1898, died 1976.  Paul Robeson
gave the world the first experience of his amazing basso voice
in 1925, singing negro spirituals, and was especially famed for
his performance of the song "Ol' Man River" in the Hammerstein
and Kern musical Show Boat.  As an actor, Robeson was
internationally acclaimed for his interpretation of the title
rôle in William Shakespeare's Othello.  Due to supposed
communist sympathies, he was unable to find work in the United
States, and lived most of his life abroad, chiefly in England.
In his time, he was arguably the best known American performer
in the world—even without the qualifiers singer or actor or
black/African-American. Critically and popularly acclaimed, he
was also a scholar, artistically gifted, a superb athlete, and
humanitarian.  But his country turned on him. A man whose social
commitment, eloquence, intelligence, and concern could have made
him as important to the cause of civil rights—not just in the
US, but everywhere; not just fo