“You Are the Un-Americans:” Paul Robeson Denounces HUAC
On this day, Paul Robeson, acclaimed African American singer and leftist political activist, was called to testify about his politics before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). He denounced the committee by declaring, “You are the Un-Americans,” because of the committee’s assault on freedom of belief and association.
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. After World War II he led an appeal to the United Nations, “An Appeal to the World,” over human rights violations in the U.S. 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, denied a passport because of his political views, and blacklisted as a performer. When the Truman administration seized his passport on August 4, 1950, it ruined his commercial singing career outside the U.S. The blacklist in the U.S., meanwhile, ruined his career in this country.
For more on Robeson, including his inability to travel oversees because the U.S. revoked his passport, see also August 4, 1950, and May 26, 1957. On December 17, 1951, he delivered a petition to the United Nations, “We Charge Genocide,” accusing the United States of genocide because of the lynching of African-Americans.
Robeson was also the principal target of anti-Communist vigilantes who on August 27, 1949 violently forced the cancellation of the Peekskill concert (in the town of Peekskill, New York), where he was to be the featured performer.
Read: Martin Duberman, Paul Robeson (1989)
Learn more about Robeson’s life here
See Paul Robeson’s FBI file: http://vault.fbi.gov/Paul%20Robeson,%20Sr.
Read the We Charge Genocide Petition here
Learn more about HUAC: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/huac