Princeton Weekly Bulletin

Princeton Weekly Bulletin, April 6, 1998

Nassau Notes

Princeton Atelier

Dance critics Deborah Jowitt (right) and Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times will give a lecture on "The Dance Critic" at 7:30 p.m. on April 5; Richard Philp of Dance Magazine will moderate. Part of the Princeton Atelier series "Dance: States of the Art," the lecture will be held in 5 Robertson Hall.

Program honors Paul Robeson

The University and Princeton community will join forces April 7 to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Princeton native Paul Robeson, African American actor and civil rights activist. The program, "Paul Robeson: The First 100 Years," which begins in Richardson Auditorium at 8:00 p.m., will feature music, commentary and a presentation of film clips of Robeson's performances.
     "It's a celebration of Robeson's life," said Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History and director of the Program in African-American Studies.
     The program will feature commentary by Robeson's biographer, Lloyd Brown, and a vocal performance by Jeanie Bryson. Sean Wilentz, professor of history and director of the Program in American Studies, will present the clip montage that he has prepared.

Porgy and Bess, Othello
     Robeson was born in Princeton on April 9, 1898, son of a minister who escaped slavery in Virginia through the Underground Railroad. After attending Somerville High School, Paul Robeson graduated from Rutgers University in 1919 as both valedictorian and the first African-American to be named an All-American football player. He began acting while a student at Columbia Law School and became a lawyer but left that career for the stage in 1924 following a breakthrough performance in Eugene O'Neill's All God's Chillun Got Wings.
      Robeson added concerts to his repertoire in 1925, becoming the first singer to popularize the music of black churches. Through the 1930s and 1940s, he toured Europe and the United States, starring in Showboat and Porgy and Bess, as well as Othello.

Real un-Americans
     A trip to the Soviet Union in 1934 at the invitation of the filmmaker Sergei Eisentstein changed his life. Robeson said that in the Soviet Union, he had been treated not as a Negro, but with the full dignity of mankind. He took up the cause of civil rights, becoming an eloquent spokesman against discrimination, but his embrace of leftist causes caused him to be investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.
     He saw his concerts cancelled, his records pulled from store shelves, and his passport revoked. His income plummeted. Yet Robeson would not yield, often refusing to answer whether or not he was a Communist. Before the HUAC in 1950, he shouted, "You are the real un-Americans, and you should be ashamed of yourselves."

Paid a great price
     Robeson's place in the nation's civil rights history is obscured because of this situation, according to Wilentz. "Like a number of black leaders of his generation, he was drawn into the orbit of the Communist Party," Wilentz said. "He's paid a great price for that." For example, efforts to have a commemorative stamp issued in honor of the centennial were turned down.
     Robeson ultimately regained his right to travel, but his career never recovered. He died quietly at his sister's home in Philadelphia in 1976.
     The Robeson celebration is being jointly presented by the programs in African-American Studies and American Studies, the N.J. Historical Commission, and the Arts Council of Princeton, which is located in the neighborhood where Robeson grew up. The event is free and open to the public. For more on Paul Robeson Week in Princeton, call 924-8777.

CJL celebrates 50 years of Jewish life

"Fifty Years of Jewish life at Princeton: Looking Back and Looking Ahead" is the topic of a panel discussion at 4:30 p.m. on April 7 in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.
     Four panelists will reflect on the experience of Jews at Princeton from different perspectives. Marianne Sanua will provide historical context; Anthony Grafton, Dodge Professor of History, will discuss the issues from the perspective of a current faculty member; Lauren Eichler '94, who is currently completing a rabbinical program at the Jewish Theological Seminary, will speak as a recent alumna; and Hillel President Richard Joel will comment. President Harold Shapiro will offer his observations, and Rabbi James Diamond, director of the Center for Jewish Life, will moderate.
     The panel is the first event in a yearlong celebration of the 50th anniversary of organized Jewish life on campus: the founding of the first Hillel chapter in 1948. The Princeton Jewish Society had been established in 1942 to offer students program that would "stimulate a consciousness of their unique religious, philosophical and artistic past," and the first services were held on campus in 1946, with Albert Einstein among those attending.

Documentary filmmaker visits campus

Documentary filmmaker Frances Negron-Muntaner will be on campus April 8 and 9. Her productions include Aids in El Barrio, Brincando el charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican, Homeless Diaries and most recently, The Splendid Little War.
     She will present two discussion: "Studies in Spanish Language and Style: Cultural Representations of Migratory Experience in the Hispanic World" at 7:00 p.m. on April 8 in 64 McCosh and "The Unbearable Whiteness of Being: Andy Warhol and Latin Drag Culture" at 4:30 p.m. on April 9 in Joseph Henry House.
     In addition, the International Center will host a luncheon honoring Negron-Muntaner at noon on April 9 in the West Room of Murray-Dodge (e-mail yolanda@princeton.edu for reservations).
     The visit is sponsored by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Latin American Studies Program and International Center.

Paul Dresher Ensemble plays in Taplin

The Composers Ensemble at Princeton will present the Paul Dresher Ensemble at 8:00 p.m. on April 9 in Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall.
     Based in San Francisco, the Dresher Ensemble Electro-Acoustic Band produces works of collaboratively-created opera and experimental music theater and performs the work of a diverse range of composers with an instrumentation that combines traditional acoustic and contemporary electronic instruments. "My goal in this," says Dresher, "is not to explore the technology for its own sake but rather to approach the technology in the next step in the evolution of the resources from which composers may draw."
     The free concert is sponsored by the Department of Music and the Friends of Music. The program will include works by Dresher, Paul Hanson, David Lang and Jay Cloidt, as well as works by graduate students in composition Dan Truman and Nicholas Brooke, and excerpts from Ravenshead, a new opera by Steve Mackey with libretto by Rinde Eckert, who will sing the lead role.

University Picnic

The Staff Recognition Committee requests designs for this year's June picnic T-shirt by 5:00 p.m. on April 16. For information and application call Betty Stein at 258-2430.

Community service one-day spring cleanup

Volunteers Emanuel Slater '99 (front l), Jean Riley of Princeton Nursery School and Loy Carrington of the University's Community and State Affairs Office invite students, staff, faculty and community members to participate in a one-day spring indoor and outdoor cleanup project on April 18. Locations include Eden Family Services, Mercer Street Friends, New Visions, the Young Scholars Institute and Katzenbach School for the Deaf, among others. The day's efforts are sponsored by the Office of Community and State Affairs and Community House. Interested volunteers should call Carrington at 258-6666 or Slater at 258-6136.