New Jersey celebrates the birthday of Paul Robeson, a local man who was an athlete and a civil rights activist.

Robeson was born in Princeton in 1898. He went to Rutgers where he played football and made it into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Robeson also had a 40-year acting career, where he played  characters like Shakespeare’s Othello.

Robeson also was a civil rights activist, an author and songwriter.

Robseon died in 1976.