{"id":1696,"date":"2019-08-01T09:11:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-01T09:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/?page_id=1696"},"modified":"2019-08-01T09:11:03","modified_gmt":"2019-08-01T09:11:03","slug":"paul-robesons-appearance-before-the-house-un-american-activities-committee-1956","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/25-the-cold-war\/paul-robesons-appearance-before-the-house-un-american-activities-committee-1956\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul Robeson\u2019s Appearance Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1956)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paul\nRobeson was a popular performer and African American political activist. He attacked\nracism and imperialism and advocated for African decolonization. He appeared\nbefore the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956. He invoked the Fifth\nAmendment and refused to cooperate.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the Communist\nParty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Oh please, please, please.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. SCHERER: Please answer, will you, Mr. Robeson?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: What is the Communist Party? What do you\nmean by that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. SCHERER: I ask that you direct the witness to\nanswer the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: What do you mean by the Communist Party?\nAs far as I know it is a legal party like the Republican Party and the\nDemocratic Party. Do you mean a party of people who have sacrificed for my\npeople, and for all Americans and workers, that they can live in dignity? Do\nyou mean that party?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the Communist\nParty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Would you like to come to the ballot box\nwhen I vote and take out the ballot and see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Gentlemen, in the first place, wherever I\nhave been in the world, Scandinavia, England, and many places, the first to die\nin the struggle against Fascism were the Communists and I laid many wreaths\nupon graves of Communists. It is not criminal, and the Fifth Amendment has\nnothing to do with criminality. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Warren,\nhas been very clear on that in many speeches, that the Fifth Amendment does not\nhave anything to do with the inference of criminality. I invoke the Fifth Amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Could I say that the reason that I am\nhere today, you know, from the mouth of the State Department itself, is: I\nshould not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the\nindependence of the colonial peoples of Africa. For many years I have so\nlabored and I can say modestly that my name is very much honored all over\nAfrica, in my struggles for their independence. That is the kind of\nindependence like Sukarno got in Indonesia. Unless we are double-talking, then\nthese efforts in the interest of Africa would be in the same context. The other\nreason that I am here today, again from the State Department and from the court\nrecord of the court of appeals, is that when I am abroad I speak out against\nthe injustices against the Negro people of this land. I sent a message to the\nBandung Conference and so forth. That is why I am here. This is the basis, and\nI am not being tried for whether I am a Communist, I am being tried for\nfighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in\nthis United States of America. My mother was born in your state, Mr. Walter,\nand my mother was a Quaker, and my ancestors in the time of Washington baked\nbread for George Washington\u2019s troops when they crossed the Delaware, and my own\nfather was a slave. I stand here struggling for the rights of my people to be\nfull citizens in this country. And they are not. They are not in Mississippi.\nAnd they are not in Montgomery, Alabama. And they are not in Washington. They\nare nowhere, and that is why I am here today. You want to shut up every Negro\nwho has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people, for the\nrights of workers, and I have been on many a picket line for the steelworkers\ntoo. And that is why I am here today. \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: In Russia I felt for the first time like\na full human being. No color prejudice like in Mississippi, no color prejudice\nlike in Washington. It was the first time I felt like a human being. Where I\ndid not feel the pressure of color as I feel [it] in this Committee today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. SCHERER: Why do you not stay in Russia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Because my father was a slave, and my\npeople died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part\nof it just like you. And no Fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is\nthat clear? I am for peace with the Soviet Union, and I am for peace with\nChina, and I am not for peace or friendship with the Fascist Franco, and I am\nnot for peace with Fascist Nazi Germans. I am for peace with decent people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. SCHERER: You are here because you are promoting\nthe Communist cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: I am here because I am opposing the\nneo-Fascist cause which I see arising in these committees. You are like the\nAlien [and] Sedition Act, and Jefferson could be sitting here, and Frederick\nDouglass could be sitting here, and Eugene Debs could be here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ARENS: Now I would invite your attention, if you\nplease, to the Daily Worker<\/em> of June\n29, 1949, with reference to a get-together with you and Ben Davis. Do you know\nBen Davis?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: One of my dearest friends, one of the\nfinest Americans you can imagine, born of a fine family, who went to Amherst\nand was a great man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CHAIRMAN: The answer is yes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Nothing could make me prouder than to\nknow him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CHAIRMAN: That answers the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ARENS: Did I understand you to laud his patriotism?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: I say that he is as patriotic an American\nas there can be, and you gentlemen belong with the Alien and Sedition Acts, and\nyou are the nonpatriots, and you are the un-Americans, and you ought to be\nashamed of yourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CHAIRMAN: Just a minute, the hearing is now\nadjourned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: I should think it would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CHAIRMAN: I have endured all of this that I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: Can I read my statement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE CHAIRMAN: No, you cannot read it. The meeting is\nadjourned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. ROBESON: I think it should be, and you should\nadjourn this forever, that is what I would say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Committee on Un-American Activities, Investigation of the Unauthorized Use of\nU.S. Passports <\/em>(Washington: Government Printing Office, 1956), 4492-4509. Available\nonline via Internet Archive (https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/investigationofu0304unit<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paul Robeson was a popular performer and African American political activist. He attacked racism and imperialism and advocated for African decolonization. He appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1956. He invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to cooperate. Mr. ARENS: Are you now a member of the Communist Party? Mr. ROBESON: Oh please, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":816,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1696","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1697,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1696\/revisions\/1697"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}