Skip to main content

Witherspoon St. Presbyterian Church

    Color photo of contemporary Witherspoon St. Presbyterian Church, where William Drew Robeson, Paul Robeson’s father, was pastor from 1880-1901.

    From 1880–1901, Paul Robeson’s father, William Drew Robeson, was pastor of the all-black Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, spiritually a Jim Crow town formed by an all-white university. (In 1846, whites in the First Presbyterian Church forced their black members to form their own church.) Judged insufficiently servile by Witherspoon’s white sponsors, Rev. Robeson was forced to resign his pastorate in 1901.

    Not available
    Copyright
    Public Domain
    Attribution/Credit

    Municipality of Princeton, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, https://www.princetonnj.gov/809/Witherspoon-Street-Presbyterian-Church