ASSEMBLY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND WOMEN'S AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

ASSEMBLY JOINT RESOLUTION No. 217

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MARCH 20, 2025

      The Assembly Community Development and Women's Affairs Committee reports favorably Assembly Joint Resolution No. 217.

This joint resolution designates April 9 of each year as “Paul Robeson Day” in New Jersey.  Born in Princeton, New Jersey on April 9, 1898, Paul Leroy Robeson was a gifted debater, scholar, linguist, athlete, actor, singer, author, political activist, and the quintessential 20th-century renaissance man. 

     Robeson attended Rutgers University on a four-year scholarship, becoming the third African-American student to attend the institution.  As a standout student and athlete, Robeson earned his place as class valedictorian and a spot on the All-American football team.  Robeson would later attend Columbia University Law School, continuing his success as a professional football player while pursuing a legal education.  However, racial tensions and discrimination greatly limited his career as a lawyer, and he instead rose to fame as a widely acclaimed actor and singer in the late 1920s and 1930s. 

     As Robeson’s popularity grew, he broke barriers as one of the first African-American men to play significant roles in the predominantly white American theater.  Robeson strongly believed in the responsibility of influential figures to advocate for justice and peace.  This sense of responsibility led Robeson to advocate for the rights of African-Americans, workers, and colonized peoples around the world.  Unfortunately, his political activism led to his blacklisting and the revocation of his passport, significantly hindering his career and obscuring his accomplishments and role in the history of civil rights.  Despite these hardships and his death in 1976, Robeson remains a source of inspiration, and his remarkable life and legacy should be remembered and celebrated by the State of New Jersey.