Originally Posted by Terrapin_Station

For example,even though Paul Robeson's dad had been born into slavery (from which he escaped in his teens) Paul sure as hell didn't know what slavery was like. Paul's mom was part of a very prominent Quaker family. Paul's dad, when Paul was born, was a popular reverend in Princeton, New Jersey. Paul went to Rutgers on a full scholarship. He was a football star there. He was on the debate team. He was in the glee club. He was in a fraternity. He was a Cap and Skull. He graduated valedictorian and then he went to law school at Columbia.

Meanwhile Sinatra was born in a tenement to Italian immigrant parents, including a father who was illiterate, at a time in the U.S.when Italians were often seen as an undesirable minority. By some accounts Sinatra was physically (not sexually) abused as a kid. He got kicked out of high school (for "rowdiness") and didn't finish, then he dropped out of a business vocational school. Sinatra didn't know what slavery was like either, of course, but he certainly had a harder, far less charmed upbringing than Robeson had.