8 x 10 in. silver gelatin photograph (minimal edge wear). Pencil signed lower right by Jacobi. 

Paul Leroy Robeson (1898-1976) was an American film and stage actor, notably known for his roles as “Joe” in the London production of Show Boat, and as Othello at the Shubert Theatre in 1943, for which he received a Donaldson Award; the run of Othello starring Robeson remained the longest-running production of a Shakespeare play until 2011. He became active in several social justice campaigns and eventually the Civil Rights Movement. Advocating for Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War, Robeson became active in the Council on African Affairs; later, his sympathies for communism and the Soviet Union and his criticisms of United States foreign policy caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era. He received the Spingarn medal from the NAACP in 1945; his efforts to end Apartheid were posthumously recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 1978. Robeson is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the American Theater Hall of Fame; he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.