The Paul Robeson House and Museum reopened on Oct. 10, after being closed since August 2024 due to repairs that had to be undertaken on half of the building. The long road to the reopening of the house that Robeson occupied from 1966 until his death in 1976 was marked by a celebration of its new artist in residence space and a community celebration.
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the house is owned by the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and they marked the celebration by making admission to the museum — normally $12 — free to the public. Roberson, who was born in Princeton in 1898, moved to Philadelphia after his wife, Eslanda, died in 1966, and he lived with his sister, Marian S. Forsythe, until he died in 1976.
Robeson is revered by many Black Americans for the stance he took — at the height of his fame as one of the country’s pre-eminent Renaissance men, regardless of race. Robeson refused to renounce his anti-capitalist and socialist views, as well as his associations with Black American Communists during one of America’s most repressive periods, the anticommunist witch hunts of the 1950s led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. His dedication to those causes eventually led to his erasure and quite literally his cancellation by the American government.
Source: Paul Robeson House And Museum Reopens After Yearlong Hiatus
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