Piscataway, N.J. -- Before his famed career as an actor, singer, scholar, and groundbreaking global activist, New Jersey-native Paul Robeson was the son of a runaway slave. He became valedictorian of the Rutgers Class of 1919 and twice earned All-America selection as a Scarlet Knights football player in an era when racial segregation prohibited Black players at many colleges and universities.



A mural of Robeson will be unveiled in SHI Stadium during the Homecoming football game on Oct. 19. Alonzo Adams, a 1984 graduate of the Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts who went on to a renowned painting career, says he was honored to be awarded the commission to portray the varied facets of Robeson's life.

"A lot of people don't know who Paul Robeson was," Adams says. "They don't know the man he was. I didn't know the man he was when I got to Rutgers, but I found out the giant that he was, the humanitarian, the man who fought for peace, the athlete, the celebrity, the activist. I want his image to be magnified. I want people to be like, 'Wow, okay, that's who Paul Robeson was.' And then I want them to go back and do research on Paul Robeson."

Adams says he is moved by Robeson's example as a "Black man to have that much presence and fortitude and commitment."

Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, a U.S. historian whose scholarly work specializes in post-emancipation U.S. history with a focus on social and intellectual history, says it is essential for Rutgers to share Robeson's story.

"The exceptional accomplishments of Paul Robeson at Rutgers and beyond cannot be overstated," says Holloway. "He is a towering figure in American history, and his outspoken stance at a time well before the Civil Rights movement took shape was far ahead of its time. This celebration of Robeson's life will be on display for all attending Scarlets Knights games to see, and it will increase awareness of his many contributions."

Robeson's success as an actor and singer after his time at Rutgers sometimes overshadows his athletic prowess as a young man. An inductee in the College Football Hall of Fame, he played four seasons for the Scarlet Knights, helping legendary Coach G. Foster Sanford lead the team to a 22-6-3 record in that period. In addition to four letters in football, he also earned three letters each in basketball and baseball, and two in track. After Rutgers, Robeson played pro football for three seasons, using that income to pay tuition while earning a law degree at Columbia University.

Football Head Coach Greg Schiano says the mural will be an inspiration to generations of players, students, and fans.

"There is a great deal of pride for Paul Robeson and his accomplishments at Rutgers," Schiano says. "He was a fierce competitor and did so with incredible courage, grace and dignity. To have a place where his contributions to athletics and the community can forever live is a tremendous honor."

The stadium mural, which measures 24 feet wide by 8 feet high, will hang on a wall behind student seating in sections 142 and 143 in SHI Stadium. The mural in the stadium is a reproduction of the original painting by Adams, which measures 12 feet by 4 feet. Plans are underway to display it at Rutgers as well.

The initiative for the Robeson tribute at SHI Stadium originated with Jim Savage, president of the Class of 1971, and ultimately involved a joint effort across the university that brought together a vast coalition: Rutgers Athletics, the Rutgers University Foundation, the Rutgers University Alumni Association, the Rutgers Alumni Association, the Rutgers Class of 1971, Ubuntu Cultural Pavilion (based in Somerville, New Jersey), the Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance, Douglass College alumnae, and the Blacks on the Banks Legacy Circle.

"I am extraordinarily proud of my classmates, these five other alumni organizations, and those two major Rutgers executive units for serving as champions of a lasting tribute to Rutgers and global legacy Paul Robeson," Savage RC'71 says.

Savage collaborated on the mural closely with Kendall Hall, past president and co-founder of the Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance. Both also worked on the creation of Paul Robeson Plaza on the College Avenue Campus, which was dedicated in 2019, the 100th anniversary of Robeson's Rutgers graduation.

Hall RC'88, who is founder and president of the Unbuntu Cultural Pavilion, says collaborators are thrilled about this venue for telling Robeson's story.

"We wanted to make sure that we could continue to uplift Paul Robeson's legacy," Hall says. "This is another means for us to spread the great work and the legacy of Paul Robeson."

In addition to the mural, Adams painted a portrait of Robeson in 1986 that hangs in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center on the Busch Campus in Piscataway. Other recognitions of Robeson at Rutgers include the Paul Robeson Campus Center at Rutgers–Newark and the Paul Robeson Library at Rutgers–Camden.

Adams' works have been showcased all over the country, including "Alonzo Adams: These Eyes Have Seen," a show on display at Rutgers University–Camden's Stedman Gallery through Nov. 16. His work was exhibited in a Rutgers–New Brunswick Zimmerli Art Museum show that ended earlier this year.