Paul Robeson’s Passport Suspended; Trip Blocked
The State Department took emergency action on this day to suspend the passport of the noted African-American singer and civil rights activist Paul Robeson. Apparently uncertain about where he would leave the U.S., the agency sent an emergency bulletin to all possible exit points.
Robeson was an extraordinary individual who excelled in several different fields over the course of his life. At Rutgers College he starred in football and was twice name an All-American. After graduating from Rutgers as his Class Valedictorian, he attended and graduated from Columbia University Law School.
His greatest success and national fame came as a singer and actor. He had a magnificent voice and eventually recorded 276 songs. As an actor, he won acclaim by starring in both stage and film versions of Show Boat.
In the 1930s he became more active in leftist politics and supported the Loyalist side in the Spanish Civil War. On December 17, 1951 he presented a petition, We Charge Genocide, to the United Nations, accusing the U.S. of engaging in genocide against African-Americans, Although his political views became increasingly aligned with the Soviet Union, he never officially joined the Communist Party.
He was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and on this day had his passport seized by the government because of his political views. Unable to travel abroad his successful career as a singer in Europe and other countries ended. On August 27, 1949 Robeson was the scheduled star performer at a concert in Peekskill, NY, just north of New York City. A howling mob if anti-Communists attacked people attempting to reach the location and prevented the concert from being held. It was rescheduled and successfully occurred on September 4, 1949.
Robeson had emerged as a left-wing critic of American foreign policy during the Cold War, including the Korean War, which had broken out in June 1950.
For his views, Robeson was called before the House-Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) on June 12, 1956. On May 26, 1957, unable to leave the country because he did not have a passport, he gave a concert by telephone to an audience in London. The Cold War effectively ended Robeson’s successful career as a singer. He was blacklisted in the U.S., and the restrictions on his travel denied him performance opportunities in other countries.
Read: Martin Duberman, Paul Robeson (1989)
Watch Robeson sing for workers at the Sydney, Australia, Opera House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg7bPgrosAE
Learn more about the U.S. passport office in the Cold War and after: Mrs. Shipley’s Ghost: The Right to Travel and Terrorist Watchlists (2013)
Watch Robeson speak on colonialism, African-American rights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puOIdh944vk
Visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture here