Paul Robeson with Christine Moore Howell and a child.
Item
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Title
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Paul Robeson with Christine Moore Howell and a child.
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Description
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Paul Robeson with Christine Moore Howell and a child, in front of William Moore’s furniture store on Spring Street.
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Paul Robeson (baritone) and Christine Howell (1899 - 1972), well-known Princeton natives, appear in an undated photo seated on the stoop of the entrance to a Spring Street furniture store, accompanied by an unidentified young girl. Christine’s father, William “Sport” Moore, owned businesses on (4, 6, and 10) Spring Street where he sold clothing, furniture, and antiques. In later years, Christine operated a beauty salon in those properties, from the 1920s through the 1940s.
Christine never had children of her own, but with her husband, Dr. Howell, she lovingly opened her home to two youngsters. As journalist Elsie Ringer observed, “Although they have no children… one, the son of a relative and the other, the daughter of friends. They think of these two as their own.” Paul Robeson’s family was different but equally bound by chosen ties: a son, Paul Jr., with his wife Eslanda “Essie” Goode Robeson, and Essie’s daughter Marian from a previous marriage, whom Paul adopted. In the sunlit photograph, Paul and Christine sit side by side, a blanket draped across the steps, Christine’s arms encircling the young girl. The child leans in, at ease, the scene radiating warmth and familiarity. Though the image is undated and the girl unidentified, the quiet intimacy suggests she may have been one of the children Christine lovingly helped to raise—a moment where the chosen family was as real and enduring as any by blood.
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Paul Robeson Biography
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Rights
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This work is believed to be in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States. For more information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/
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Creator
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Unknown
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Format
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Image
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Spatial Coverage
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Princeton, NJ
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Contributor
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Historical Society of Princeton
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Extent
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1 image
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Identifier
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MS 899
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Date Created
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(c. 1920-1929)
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Subject
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Selling
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Photographs
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Couples
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Preteen girls
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Beauty shops
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Political activists
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New Jersey--Princeton
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Actors, Black
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African American lawyers
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African American singers
