HR0053 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0053 LRB098 10256 MST 40421 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Albert Einstein is well-known for his contributions to the various fields of science; a much-less known aspect of his life was his deep aversion to racism and the manner in which African Americans were treated in the United States and his friendship with Paul Robeson, a famous African-American athlete, singer, actor, and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world; and

WHEREAS, Paul Robeson was born on April 9, 1898, in Princeton, New Jersey, the youngest of 5 children born to a runaway slave; the Robeson family knew both hardship and the determination to rise above it; in 1915, he received a 4-year academic scholarship to Rutgers and despite racism and violence from teammates, won 15 varsity letters in sports (baseball, basketball, track) and was twice named to the All-American Football Team; he received the Phi Beta Kappa key in his junior year, belonged to the Cap & Skull Honor Society, and graduated as Valedictorian; he attended Columbia Law School from 1919-1923, where he met and married Eslanda Cordoza Goode; he took a job with a law firm, but left when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him; he left the practice of law to use his artistic talents in theater and music to promote African and African-American history and culture; and

WHEREAS, Albert Einstein was sensitized to racism by the years of Nazi-inspired threats and harassment he suffered while in Germany; after coming to the U.S., although grateful to find a safe place, he did not refrain from criticizing the ethical shortcomings of his new home concerning the treatment of African Americans; and

WHEREAS, While in London, Raul Robeson earned international acclaim for his roles and won the Donaldson Award for Best Acting Performance in 1944; his travels taught him that racism was not as virulent in Europe as in the U.S; at home, it was difficult to find restaurants that would serve him, theaters in New York would only seat blacks in the upper balconies, and his performances were often surrounded with threats or outright harassment; in London, his opening night performance of Emperor Jones brought the audience to its feet with cheers for twelve encores; he used his deep baritone voice to promote black spirituals, to share the cultures of other countries, and to benefit the labor and social movements of his time; he sang for peace and justice in 25 languages throughout the U.S., Europe, the Soviet Union, and Africa; he became known as a citizen of the world, equally comfortable with the people of Moscow, Nairobi, and Harlem; and

WHEREAS, Albert Einstein's response to the racism and segregation he found in the U.S. was to cultivate relationships in Princeton, New Jersey's African-American community; he paid the college tuition of a young man from the community and invited the singer Marian Anderson to stay at his home when the singer was refused a room in town; and

WHEREAS, During the 1940s, Paul Robeson continued to perform and to speak out against racism, in support of labor, and for peace; he was a champion of working people and organized labor; he spoke and performed at strike rallies, conferences, and labor festivals worldwide; in 1945, he headed an organization that challenged President Truman to support an anti-lynching law; in the late 1940s, when dissent was scarcely tolerated in the U.S., he openly questioned why African Americans should fight in the army of a government that tolerated racism; because of his outspokenness, he was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) of being a communist; he saw this as an attack on the democratic rights of everyone who worked for international friendship and for equality; the accusation nearly ended his career; eighty of his concerts were canceled, and in 1949, 2 interracial outdoor concerts in Peekskill, N.Y. were attacked by racist mobs while state police stood by; and

WHEREAS, Albert Einstein began a 20-year friendship with Paul Robeson when he met the singer when he came to perform at Princeton's McCarter Theatre in 1935; the shared a concern about the rise of fascism and worked together on the American Crusade to End Lynching, in response to an upsurge in racial murders as black soldiers returned home following World War II; and

WHEREAS, In 1950, the U.S. revoked Robeson's passport, leading to an 8-year battle to reacquire it and to travel again; during those years, he studied Chinese, met with Albert Einstein to discuss the prospects for world peace, published his autobiography, 'Here I Stand', and sang at Carnegie Hall; and

WHEREAS, State law mandates that all elementary and secondary schools incorporate black history into their curriculum and a renewed focus should be put on this little-known aspect of Albert Einstein's life; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we commemorate the friendship and partnership formed by Paul Robeson and Albert Einstein around the issue of Civil Rights and for it to be an example that we are more alike than we are different and should be used as an example of how we can work together to improve the lives of all citizens in Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be made available to all elementary and secondary schools in the State of Illinois.