Paul made many careful decisions about which roles to accept and what new dimensions to bring them. He and his wife, Essie, were intensely concerned about being stuck in stereotypical characters, what Paul called “plantation types of Negro”, or in minstrel-like shows. Arguably with both good and bad effects on his career, this worry often led Paul to turn down offers for films and plays. Among these rejected scripts were Lulu Belle, In Abraham’s Bosom (which won a 1922 Pulitzer Prize), Show Boat (although he did join the cast later after its first huge success), and countless others, particularly following the release of the movie version of The Emperor Jones.

Nevertheless, Paul found himself forced into taking on stereotypical roles, or roles which in some way or another glorified an idealism contrary to his own. Yet it is clear that Paul chose to portray these characters despite the ethical compromises he would have to make because he saw in them some value for his people that outweighed the negative connotations of the characterizations. In productions such as Sanders of the River and All God’s Chillun Got Wings, Paul was able to disregard the racism of the writers in order to present to the world strong, human images of Blacks and Africans.

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