Editing Paul Robeson (section)

===1898–1915: Childhood===
[[File:PAUL ROBESON HOUSE, PRINCETON, MERCER COUNTY.jpg|thumb|right|Robeson's birthplace in [[Princeton, New Jersey]]]]
Robeson was born in [[Princeton, New Jersey]], in 1898, to Reverend [[William Drew Robeson I|William Drew Robeson]] and [[Maria Louisa Bustill]].<ref name="mother">{{harvnb|Robeson|2001|p=[http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/59/04712426/0471242659.pdf 3]}}; cf. {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|p=18}}, {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=4–5}}</ref> His mother, Maria, was a member of the [[Bustill family|Bustills]], a prominent [[Religious Society of Friends|Quaker]] family of mixed ancestry.<ref>{{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=5–6, 145–149}}; cf. {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=4–5}}; {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=10–12}}</ref> His father, William, was of [[Igbo people|Igbo]] origin and was born into slavery.<ref>{{harvnb|Nollen|2010}}</ref><ref name="Star">{{Cite web|url=https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-2d78-The-inheritor-of-his-fathers-political-mantle#.Wb5J9ciGM2x|title=The inheritor of his father's political mantle|access-date=September 17, 2017|work=[[Morning Star (British newspaper)|Morning Star]]|date=May 1, 2014|first=Hywel|last=Francis|author-link=Hywel Francis|archive-date=September 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170917171056/https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-2d78-The-inheritor-of-his-fathers-political-mantle#.Wb5J9ciGM2x|url-status=live}}</ref> William escaped from a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] in his teens<ref>{{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=4, 337–338}}; cf. {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|p=4}}, {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=4}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=9–10}}</ref> and eventually became the minister of Princeton's Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in 1881.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=5–6, 14}}; cf. {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=4–5}}, {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=4–6}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=17, 26}}</ref> Robeson had three brothers: William Drew Jr. (born 1881), Reeve (born {{circa|1887}}), and Ben (born {{circa|1893}}); and one sister, Marian (born {{circa|1895}}).<ref>{{harvnb|Robeson|2001|p=3}}; cf. {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|p=18}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|p=21}}</ref>

In 1900, a disagreement between William and white financial supporters of the Witherspoon church arose with apparent racial undertones,<ref>{{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=6–7}}; cf. {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=5–6}}, {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=18–20}}</ref> which were prevalent in Princeton.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=16–17}}; cf. {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=12}}</ref> William, who had the support of his entirely black congregation, resigned in 1901.<ref>{{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=5–6}}; cf. {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=6–9}}, {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=18–20}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|p=26}}</ref> The loss of his position forced him to work menial jobs.<ref>{{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=9}}; cf. {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|p=21}}, {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=6–7}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|p=28}}</ref> Three years later when Robeson was six, his mother, who was nearly blind, died in a house fire.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=22–23}}; cf. {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=8}}, {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=7–8}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=25–29}}; cf. {{harvnb|Seton|1958|p=7}}</ref> Eventually, William became financially incapable of providing a house for himself and his children still living at home, Ben and Paul, so they moved into the attic of a store in Westfield, New Jersey.<ref>{{harvnb|Robeson|2001|p=11}}; cf. {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=9}}, {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=27–29}}</ref>

William found a stable parsonage at the St. Thomas [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church|A.M.E. Zion]] in 1910,<ref>{{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=9–10}}; cf. {{harvnb|Brown|1997|p=39}}, {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=13–14}}</ref> where Robeson filled in for his father during sermons when he was called away.<ref>{{harvnb|Robeson|2001|p=17}}; cf. {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=30}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=46–47}}</ref> In 1912, Robeson began attending [[Somerville High School (New Jersey)|Somerville High School]] in New Jersey,<ref>{{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=37–38}}; cf. {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=12}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=49–51}}</ref> where he performed in ''[[Julius Caesar (play)|Julius Caesar]]'' and ''[[Othello]]'', sang in the chorus, and excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track.<ref>{{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=13–16}}; cf. {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=34–36}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=43, 46, 48–49}}</ref> His athletic dominance elicited racial taunts which he ignored.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=37–38}}; cf. {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|p=16}}, {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|pp=13–16}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=46–47}}</ref> Prior to his graduation, he won a statewide academic contest for a scholarship to Rutgers and was named class valedictorian.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=41–42}}; cf. {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=54–55}}, {{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=17}}, {{harvnb|Robeson|2001|pp=17–18}}; contra. The dispute is over whether it was a one-year or four-year scholarship. {{cite news |id={{ProQuest|498725929}} |title=Robeson Found Emphasis to Win Too Great in College Football: Giant Negro Actor and Singer, Former Grid Star, Says Color Prejudices Forgotten on Stage |newspaper=Boston Daily Globe |date=March 13, 1926 |page=A7 }}</ref> He took a summer job as a waiter in [[Narragansett Pier]], Rhode Island, where he befriended [[Fritz Pollard]], later to be the first African-American coach in the National Football League.<ref>{{harvnb|Duberman|1989|p=11}}; cf. {{harvnb|Boyle|Bunie|2005|pp=40–41}}, {{harvnb|Seton|1958|pp=18–19}}, {{harvnb|Brown|1997|pp=53–54, 65}}, {{harvnb|Carroll|1998|p=58}}</ref>