Paul
Robeson as Brutus Jones in the film version of The Emperor Jones—a role he had played on stage in 1924—was the
first African American actor to receive top billing in a major American film.
The character—a southern Pullman porter who is taken in by the fast life in New
York City, is sentenced to work on a chain gang for an accidental murder, and
ends up escaping to a tiny Caribbean island where he sets himself up as
emperor—was Robeson’s first cinematic role, and it brought renown to the actor
already famed for his theatrical performances and deeply resonant voice. In
this portrait, shot for Vanity Fair,
Edward Steichen captured both the powerful attraction of Robeson the man and
the overblown finery of the petty dictator he played. Robeson had been a
college football star and valedictorian and would go on to receive a law
degree, study African languages, and fight for civil rights at home and against
colonialism abroad, political stances that landed him on the Hollywood
blacklist during the McCarthy era.