Paul Robeson
The name "Paul Robeson" recently came up for the second time this week, so I figured I should find out a little more about him. Haven't had time to do more than skim various articles, but I'm fascinated; he had an astonishing life. Robeson's father was a former slave; Robeson himself (born 1898) went to Rutgers, where he was a football star and graduated at the top of his class; he turned down a pro athletic career to attend law school at Columbia; after he got his law degree, he became an actor and singer, drawing tremendous acclaim for roles on stage (Othello in London and on Broadway) and screen (Show Boat) as well as for concerts in which he performed black spirituals. And then, in his mid-30s, he became an ardent leftist and political activist; in 1950, his passport was taken away because he refused to swear that he wasn't a member of the Communist Party.
I won't go on, but if you want more, see the Robeson timeline at Rutgers, or the Robeson site at the Princeton public library.