The Emperor Jones
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The Emperor Jones is a 1920 tragic play by American dramatist Eugene O'Neill about the final day in the rule of Emperor Brutus Jones, a resourceful, self-assured African American and a former Pullman
Charles Sidney Gilpin in The Emperor Jones in 1920
Brutus Jones, played by Charles Sidney Gilpin, removes his shoes to facilitate his flight through the jungle in the original Provincetown Playhouse production of The Emperor Jones (1920)
Brutus Jones (Charles S. Gilpin, left) at a slave auction (Scene 5)
Under the spell of hallucination, Jones fires at the wraiths of an auctioneer and a Southern planter (Scene 5)
Paul Robeson
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Paul Leroy Robeson was an American bass-baritone concert artist, actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his political stances
The Emperor Jones
…speech of Adam Scott, the character's inspiration. When they could not come to a reconciliation, O'Neill replaced Gilpin with the young and then unknown Paul Robeson, who previously had only performed on the concert stage. Robeson starred in the title role in the 1925 New York revival (28 performances) and later in…
Robeson in 1942
Robeson in football uniform at Rutgers, c. 1919
Robeson's birthplace in Princeton, New Jersey
Fritz Pollard (left) and Robeson in a photo from the March 1918 issue of The Crisis