[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 31, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN HONOR OF PAUL ROBESON DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 31, 1998

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the centennial of 
the birth of Paul Leroy Robeson.
  Whereas, Paul Robeson grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, the son of an 
escaped slave who was a Presbyterian minister; and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson's forensic skills while in high school won him 
a scholarship to Rutgers University where he was the only African-
American student and only the third African-American student in the 
college's history; and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson, a brilliant student who was elected to the 
highest academic honor society in America, Phi Beta Kappa, in his 
junior year, was valedictorian of his college class and a Commencement 
speaker at a college where he could not live on campus in a dormitory; 
and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson, a gifted four-letter athlete and two year 
football All-American understood the importance of community service 
and received the acknowledgment of the New Brunswick, New Jersey 
African-American community at a banquet in his honor while a student at 
Rutgers; and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson went on to earn a law degree at Columbia 
University School of Law in 1923 and was admitted to the New York State 
bar; and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson made his mark in the United States and abroad 
on the stage and screen including becoming the definitive Othello in 
modern theater and setting an all-time record for a Shakespearean play 
on Broadway of two-hundred-ninety-six performances; and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson was a fearless advocate for the cause of human 
dignity and the civil rights of his fellow African-Americans and the 
human rights of other oppressed peoples throughout the world, and in 
doing so, sacrificed his career as a world renowned actor and singer; 
and
  Whereas, in recognition of the achievements and accomplishments of 
Paul Robeson, the Chicago Board of Education constructed and opened 
Paul Robeson High School in the 1st Congressional District in 1977; and
  Whereas, Paul Robeson's determination, academic achievements, self-
discipline and self-esteem epitomize the traits and attributes that 
should be emulated by students all over the United States;
  I applaud the Governor of Illinois, the Mayor of the City of Chicago 
and Paul Robeson High School in memorializing the life and works of 
Paul Robeson and celebrating April 9, 1998, as ``Paul Robeson Day.''

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