Paul Leroy Robeson

WHEREAS, Paul Leroy Robeson was born on April 9, 1898; and1
WHEREAS, Robeson was born the son of a runaway slave and is now 2
considered by many as the quintessential 20th Century Renaissance 3
Person; and 4
WHEREAS, As a scholar, Paul Robeson went to Rutgers University on 5
an academic scholarship where he was the only African American 6
student; and 7
WHEREAS, At Rutgers he was a member of the Intercollegiate 8
Debating Association, was inducted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa 9
Society, and was nominated as Class Valedictorian in 1919, and he 10
went on to earn a law degree at Columbia Law School; and11
WHEREAS, As an athlete, Robeson earned 15 varsity letters at 12
Rutgers in football, basketball, baseball, and track, was a two-time 13
All-American in football, was inducted into the College Football Hall 14
of Fame, and went on to play football in the NFL in order to pay his 15
tuition, while also attending law school; and 16
WHEREAS, As an artist for nearly four decades, Robeson achieved 17
worldwide acclaim as a vocalist and actor on stage and screen; and18
WHEREAS, He performed Shakespeare's Othello at Stratford-On-Avon 19
and was summoned for a Royal Command Performance at Buckingham 20
Palace, starred in film performances in Show Boat and other 21
productions, and released recordings of some 276 songs; and22
SENATE RESOLUTION
8649
By Senators Hasegawa, Conway, and Saldaña
p. 1 8649
WHEREAS, As a global citizen, Robeson was a brilliant 1
scholar of languages and world cultures, fluent in over 20 2
languages, including Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese, German, 3
Yiddish, Arabic, and a number of African languages, and was able 4
to perform in over 50 languages; and 5
WHEREAS, Robeson connected the struggle for social justice 6
with people around the world who also were fighting for 7
political rights, cultural recognition, and economic justice; 8
and 9
WHEREAS, As an activist, Robeson advocated for Western 10
decolonization, raised money for Welsh miners, and lobbied the 11
federal government to integrate Major League Baseball and pass 12
anti-lynching legislation; and 13
WHEREAS, He wrote a thesis titled, "The Fourteenth 14
Amendment, the Sleeping Giant of the American Constitution" and 15
called for its use "to ensure equality before the law (so) the 16
American people shall develop a higher sense of constitutional 17
morality"; and 18
WHEREAS, As a civil rights and social justice activist, 19
Robeson was a towering figure in the African American struggle 20
for human dignity and democratic rights; and 21
WHEREAS, He fearlessly supported labor and social movements, 22
fighting for freedom, equality, and human rights, both 23
domestically and internationally; and 24
WHEREAS, Robeson cofounded, with W. E. B. Du Bois, a monthly 25
newspaper called Freedom, which was critical of U.S. policies 26
and resulted in persecution by the McCarthy Commission; and27
WHEREAS, Because of his activism, Robeson was unfairly 28
targeted and blackballed by, and defiantly opposed, McCarthyism; 29
and 30
WHEREAS, He told McCarthy's House Un-American Activities 31
Committee, "I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist; I 32
am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are 33
still second-class citizens in this United States of America. 34
You are the non-patriots, and you are the un-Americans, and you 35
ought to be ashamed of yourselves." He further said he fought 36
for the freedom of African Americans and for "millions of white 37
workers caught in the same serfdom as their black brothers and 38
p. 2 8649
sisters" and "brothers and sisters from Mexico, the Philippines, 1
from the lands of Asia, from the West Indies, from Latin 2
America"; and 3
WHEREAS, In a symbolic act of defiance against the travel 4
ban imposed by the U.S. Government in May 1952, labor unions in 5
the United States and Canada organized a concert at the 6
International Peace Arch on the border between Washington state 7
and British Columbia attended by 40,000 people where Robeson 8
returned to perform a second concert at the Peace Arch in 1953, 9
and did two more concerts over the next two years; and10
WHEREAS, Coretta Scott King said that Paul Robeson had been 11
"buried alive" for espousing civil rights and human dignity 12
decades before her husband, the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther 13
King Jr.; 14
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the Washington State 15
Senate celebrate the life of Paul Leroy Robeson, encourage us 16
all to reflect on the life and times of this great American and 17
patriot, and rededicate ourselves to his vision of our global 18
collective humanity and his mission to protect our freedoms and 19
liberty and to live as a global society in peace and prosperity 20
for all. 21
I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of the Senate, 22
do hereby certify that this is a true and 23
correct copy of Senate Resolution 8649, 24
adopted by the Senate 25
April 9, 2025 26
SARAH BANNISTER 27
Secretary of the Senate 28
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