Throughout his career, Paul often found himself at ideological odds with his critics, many of whom were black leaders. The most common criticism was of his choices to participate in plays or shows that many felt to be demeaning to Blacks, usually because of the use of stereotypes. Aware, however, that he could do no good for his people without an audience or mass appeal, Paul consistently made the decision to compromise in such circumstances. Frequently, he lost the battle in order to win the war. Yet even in these roles-perhaps more so in these roles-Paul made deliberate though often unnoticed decisions which would forever change the role of Blacks in American theater.

In particular, the Black Press, Black Nationalists, and civil rights leaders criticized black characters in plays by Eugene O’Neill. Most notably, Paul was forced to defend his participation in All God’s Chillun Got Wings and The Emperor Jones. He contended that despite the inherent racism that would necessarily exist in plays by white writers, merely by becoming a well-known personality in America he could do more for his race than by any amount of censorship or discriminating among scripts.

“If I do become a first-rate actor, it will do more toward giving people a slant on the so-called Negro problem than any amount of propaganda and argument.”

In fact, popular black opinion seemed to be in his favor in this respect. Black audiences responded enthusiastically to his portrayals of defiant protagonists wrapped in entirely human mixtures of strength and fear. Even working within the boundaries of a stereotyped role, Paul’s depictions broke so forcefully from the tradition of black theatrical characters that his film version of The Emperor Jones is credited with beginning the development in American film out of the dehumanized Sambo representation.