Paul Robeson
E53095
Paul Robeson was a pioneering African American singer, actor, and civil rights activist whose artistic and political influence made him a central figure of 20th-century Black culture.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Paul Robeson canonical | 27 |
| Paul Leroy Robeson | 1 |
| Paul Robeson, Citizen of the World | 1 |
| William Drew Robeson | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T419616 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Paul Robeson Context triple: [Harlem Renaissance, notablePerson, Paul Robeson]
-
A.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist renowned as the "King of Calypso" and a prominent voice in social justice movements.
-
B.
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was a hugely popular early 20th-century American singer and actor, often called "The World's Greatest Entertainer," known for his powerful stage presence and pioneering work in sound films.
-
C.
Sam Jones
Sam Jones was a Hall of Fame shooting guard who won 10 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics during the 1950s and 1960s, making him one of the most decorated players in league history.
-
D.
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph was a prominent African American labor leader and civil rights activist who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and helped spearhead the 1963 March on Washington.
-
E.
Whitney Young
Whitney Young was a prominent American civil rights leader and longtime head of the National Urban League, known for his pragmatic, behind-the-scenes efforts to combat racial inequality and expand economic opportunities for Black Americans.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Paul Robeson Target entity description: Paul Robeson was a pioneering African American singer, actor, and civil rights activist whose artistic and political influence made him a central figure of 20th-century Black culture.
-
A.
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist renowned as the "King of Calypso" and a prominent voice in social justice movements.
-
B.
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was a hugely popular early 20th-century American singer and actor, often called "The World's Greatest Entertainer," known for his powerful stage presence and pioneering work in sound films.
-
C.
Sam Jones
Sam Jones was a Hall of Fame shooting guard who won 10 NBA championships with the Boston Celtics during the 1950s and 1960s, making him one of the most decorated players in league history.
-
D.
A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph was a prominent African American labor leader and civil rights activist who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and helped spearhead the 1963 March on Washington.
-
E.
Whitney Young
Whitney Young was a prominent American civil rights leader and longtime head of the National Urban League, known for his pragmatic, behind-the-scenes efforts to combat racial inequality and expand economic opportunities for Black Americans.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (66)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
actor
ⓘ
athlete ⓘ civil rights activist ⓘ human ⓘ lawyer ⓘ political activist ⓘ singer ⓘ |
| awardReceived | All-American college football player ⓘ |
| buriedAt |
Ferncliff Cemetery
ⓘ
surface form:
Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, United States
|
| causeAdvocated |
decolonization in Africa and Asia
ⓘ
racial equality in the United States ⓘ workers' rights ⓘ |
| child | Paul Robeson Jr. ⓘ |
| countryOfCitizenship | United States of America ⓘ |
| dateOfBirth | 1898-04-09 ⓘ |
| dateOfDeath | 1976-01-23 ⓘ |
| educatedAt |
Columbia Law School
ⓘ
Rutgers University ⓘ |
| ethnicGroup | African American ⓘ |
| familyName |
Paul Robeson Sr.
ⓘ
surface form:
Robeson
|
| father |
Paul Robeson Sr.
ⓘ
surface form:
William Drew Robeson
|
| fullName |
Paul Robeson
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Paul Leroy Robeson
|
| givenName | Paul ⓘ |
| influenced | later generations of Black artists and activists ⓘ |
| knownFor |
anti-colonial activism
ⓘ
civil rights activism ⓘ support for labor movements ⓘ support for the Soviet Union during parts of his life ⓘ |
| languageSpoken |
English
ⓘ
French ⓘ German ⓘ Russian ⓘ Spanish ⓘ several other languages ⓘ |
| mannerOfDeath | natural causes ⓘ |
| memberOfSportsTeam |
Rutgers Scarlet Knights football
ⓘ
surface form:
Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team
|
| mother | Maria Louisa Bustill ⓘ |
| notableAchievement |
All-American football honors at Rutgers
ⓘ
Phi Beta Kappa Society ⓘ
surface form:
Phi Beta Kappa at Rutgers University
one of the first African American students at Rutgers University ⓘ valedictorian of his class at Rutgers University ⓘ |
| notableWork |
autobiography "Here I Stand"
ⓘ
film "Jericho" ⓘ film "Proud Valley" ⓘ film "Sanders of the River" ⓘ Show Boat ⓘ
surface form:
film "Show Boat" (1936)
The Emperor Jones ⓘ
surface form:
film "The Emperor Jones"
performance of the song "Ol' Man River" ⓘ portrayal of Joe in the musical "Show Boat" ⓘ title role in the play "Othello" ⓘ |
| occupation |
bass-baritone singer
ⓘ
concert performer ⓘ film actor ⓘ orator ⓘ stage actor ⓘ writer ⓘ |
| passportRevocationPeriod | 1950–1958 ⓘ |
| passportRevokedBy | United States government ⓘ |
| placeOfBirth | Princeton, New Jersey, United States ⓘ |
| placeOfDeath |
Philadelphia
ⓘ
surface form:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
|
| politicalAlignment | left-wing ⓘ |
| positionPlayed | end (American football) ⓘ |
| religion | Protestant background ⓘ |
| spouse | Eslanda Goode Robeson ⓘ |
| subjectOf | FBI and U.S. government surveillance ⓘ |
| vocalRange | bass-baritone ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Paul Robeson Description of subject: Paul Robeson was a pioneering African American singer, actor, and civil rights activist whose artistic and political influence made him a central figure of 20th-century Black culture.
Referenced by (30)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Paul Leroy Robeson
subject surface form:
Ferncliff Cemetery
this entity surface form:
Paul Robeson, Citizen of the World
subject surface form:
Oh Shenandoah
subject surface form:
Sanders of the River
subject surface form:
Sanders of the River
subject surface form:
Jericho (1937 film)
subject surface form:
Jericho (1937 film)
subject surface form:
Proud Valley
subject surface form:
Proud Valley
subject surface form:
Here I Stand
subject surface form:
Here I Stand
this entity surface form:
William Drew Robeson
subject surface form:
Joe (Show Boat)