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    Black and white photo of Grand Central station mural honoring U.S. Navy and U.S. Army in the wartime 1940s. The signage reads BUY DEFENSE BONDS STAMPS NOW! Scenes illustrate what war bonds supported. Images of a sailor and an infantryman are positioned between the scenes. The top of the mural features a tank on both sides of a large battleship with airplanes in the sky behind them, and is framed under the curve of the station’s dome ceiling.
    Grand Central Station

    Grand Central Station in New York City, 1940s. Malcolm Little’s stopover station while working on the New York, Hartford & New Haven Railroad. From here Malcolm discovered Harlem in 1942.

    Black and white photo of Paul Robeson and Marian Anderson, seated at a table decorated with a flower arrangement. Robeson, at right in the photo, wears a dark tuxedo with black tie; Anderson’s torso is covered by a formal white blouse. Both Robeson and Anderson are smiling.
    Paul Robeson with Marian Anderson

    Paul Robeson with Marian Anderson, the first African American singer to perform at the White House and the first African American to sing with New York's Metropolitan Opera.

    Philadelphia General Hospital in the 1940s

    The Philadelphia General Hospital, shown here in the 1940s, was the City’s only public hospital, the descendant institution of the Blockley Almshouse.   

    Black and white photo of young Malcolm, clad in summer clothes and a fedora, relaxing in a yard with three women sitting on the ground beside him. Ella Little Collins is on the far right; she wears a short-sleeve white dress.
    Malcolm and Ella

    Malcolm, age 16, with his half-sister Ella (right) in Roxbury, Boston, MA.

    Iconic black and white photo portrait of a smiling Paul Robeson at roughly age 43, seated at an angle facing the camera, with both legs on the floor and his left arm on his chair’s armrest. He wears a dark suit jacket with wide lapels.
    Paul Robeson in 1941

    Yousuf Karsh’s portrait of Paul Robeson, Ottawa, Canada, 1941. Karsh took this iconic photo the same year that the FBI launched its surveillance and sustained harassment of Robeson and his family.

    Segregated & Overcrowded Housing

    Discriminatory housing policies segregated African Americans in densely populated urban ghettos of the North. This photograph shows an African American family in a kitchenette apartment on Chicago’s South Side.

    Black and white photo. A singing Paul Robeson stands tall in the foreground of this photo, surrounded by a crowd of all-male shipyard workers. Robeson wears a double-breasted, light-colored wool suit; both he and the shipyard workers are hatless.
    With World War II shipyard workers

    Paul Robeson leading Moore Shipyard (Oakland, CA) workers in singing the Star Spangle Banner, September 1942. Robeson’s hatred of fascism aligned him with U.S. war aims in World War II, although he spoke of two wars—one against worldwide fascism, the other against racial segregation in the U.S.

    Black and white photo. A smiling Paul Robeson stands beneath a candelabra surrounded by a racially integrated group of men and women at the California Labor School. He wears a black tuxedo with black tie, and a scarf around his neck.
    Paul Robeson campaigning for fair labor practices

    Paul Robeson at the California Labor School. The California Labor School was a cultural hub for the Bay Area's progressive and labor communities during the 1940s and 1950s. The school originated in San Francisco and expanded its campuses to Oakland, Berkeley, & Los Angeles.

    Black and white photo of Eslanda Goode Robeson, shown standing in a dark suit; she is smiling, wearing her hair in a bun, clasping her hands in front of her, radiating confidence.
    Eslanda Goode Robeson

    “Essie” was Paul Robeson’s wife, business partner, and financial manager. Essie documented her difficult marriage and adventures with Paul in a journal that is now a major resource for scholars of Paul’s life and career. Outside of her marriage, this remarkable woman achieved international renown in her own right as an anthropologist, freelance journalist, U.N. correspondent, and commentator on international affairs and domestic politics—all in the service of human rights and social justice.

    Vintage black and white photo of a nearly deserted street in Harlem, early 1940s. At left, the silhouette of an elderly woman, her back to the camera, is seen on the sidewalk in the shade of brownstone tenements. A white cross, perhaps emblematic of a Protestant mission, hangs from a metal triangle-ball device. A tall post lamp is on the sidewalk in front of the woman. On the right side of the street, early morning sunlight bathes five-story brownstones.
    Harlem Street Scene

    In the early 1940s, Malcolm Little frequented Harlem streets such as this one. Harlem was Malcolm X’s lodestar, described in his autobiography as “Seventh Heaven.”

    Black and white photo. Balding, bespectacled Izik Feffer stands at left wearing an unbuttoned light gray-tone suit and grey-tone striped tie. Albert Einstein, distinguished by his unruly white hair and the white mustache that covers his upper lip, stands at center wearing a dark gray-tone, v-neck wool sweater. A balding Solomon Mikhoels stands at right, shown wearing a dark suit. The men are smiling and engaged in conversation.
    Stalin’s postwar antisemitic purges

    Izik Feffer, Albert Einstein, & Solomon Mikhoels in the United States, 1943. They were members of the American Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee. Robeson joined a tour with members of this committee to raise funds for Stalin’s war against Hitler. Feffer & Mikhoels, both representatives of Yiddish arts and friends of Robeson, were murdered in Stalin’s antisemitic purges 1949–1952. Robeson publicly denied knowledge of the purges.

    Passon Field Victory Gardens 1943

    During the Second War World, the athletic venue once called Passon Field was deployed as Victory Gardens. The view is east toward 48th Street, with the Tudor Gothic towers of West Philadelphia High School shown at upper left. 

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