Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are still in chains,
Robeson continued his concert success but a few concerts were cancelled.
In M arch o f 1947, in Salt L ake C ity , he sang a ballad about Joe H ill, a
union organizer who had been executed in Utah's state prison. Joe H ill had
become a martyr to the labor movement. The Salt Lake C ity audience was
shocked to hear the song sung there.
Robeson then announced to the crowd, "Y o u 'v e heard my final concert
for at least tw o years, and perhaps many more. I'm retiring here and now
from concert w ork— 1 shall sing, from now on, for my trade-union and col
lege friends; in other words, only at gatherings where I can sing what I
please."
A few days la te r p o lice w ere dispatched to keep him fro m en terin g
Peoria. III., and he was labeled an "avowed or active propagandist for un-
American ideologies. '*
In 1948 the M u n d t-N ix o n C o m m u n ist C o n tro l B ill was proceeding
through Congress. The House Un-Am erican Activities Com m ittee was in
continuous session; ten Hollywood writers were on their way to prison for
refusing to discuss their political affiliation. Called to testify before H U A C
on the b ill, Robeson refused to answer the question, " A r e you an A m eri
can?" "Som e o f the most brilliant and distinguished Americans are about
to go to ja il for failure to answer that question, and I am going to join them,
if necessary I refuse to answer the question."
During the election campaign of 1948, the Progressive Party was formed
and form er vice-president H e n ry W allace was its presidential nominee.
Robeson was the first black person to play a m ajor role in the form ation
and political platform o f a m ajor party. During that year he travelled the
country campaigning for the Progressive Party. Death threats came and
some meetings were held under armed guard.
Testifying at Senate beannga on
Mundt Nixon M l. 1948
"The struggle today is one o f peace, not war with anyone.
The people will never lose their courage and strength to
shout f o r peace at the top o f their voices, to figh t fascist
persecution and death, to labor diligently every moment to
save themselves and mankind fo r the constructive building
o f new and rich cultures fo r the universal attaining o ffu ll
equality and fu ll human dignity. ”
World P m c o Conference
Robeson's most controversial speech was made to the W orld Peace Con
ference in Paris in A p ril, 1949. He was asked to address the crowd on behalf
o f thousands o f Third W orld delegates. He gave a brief talk on the contri
bution o f the colonized nations have made to the industrial nations and
their desire to share the wealth more equitably. He expressed a strong desire
for peace, saying:
" W e co lon ial peoples have contributed to the building o f the U nited
States and we are determined to share in its wealth. We denounce the policy
o f the United States government which is similar to that o f H itler and Goeb-
bels. We want peace and liberty and will combat for them along with the So
viet Union, the democracies o f eastern Europe, China and Indonesia-----
" I t is unthinkable that Am erican Negroes could go to war on behalf o f
those who have oppressed us for generations against the Soviet Union which
in one generation has raised our people to full human d ig n ity."
In the U n ited States Robeson’ s remarks were distorted and headlines
charged him with treason. Robeson sang in D enm ark, Poland, Czechoslo
vakia, the Soviet Union, then returned to the U.S.
Robeson spoke to a home-coming rally o f more than 4,000 in Harlem .
" T h e so-called western democracies— including our own . .can fin d no
answer before (he bar o f w orld justice fo r their treatm en t o f the Negro
p e o p le .. . .W e must have the courage to shout at the tops o f our voices
about our injustices and we must lay the b la m e .. .where it has belonged for
over 300 years o f slavery and misery, right at our own doorstep— not in any
far away place . . . W e do not want to die in vain any more on foreign bat
tlefields for W all Street and the greedy supporters o f domestic fascism. I f
we must die let it be in Mississippi or Georgia! Let it be whereever we are
lynched and deprived o f our rights as human beings!"
W ith Lena Horne and Progressive Party presidential
candidate, Henry Wallace. 1948.
:
"The NAACP is organized to agitate, to investigate,
to expose, to defend, to reason, to appeal. This is our
program and this is the whole of our program. What
human reform demands today is light—more light;
clear thought, accurate knowledge, careful
distinctions."
-W .E .B . DuBois, 1921
Portland Branch, NAACP
March 20th Meeting:
Allen Temple Church, 4236 N.E. 86h
Aprii 18th Meeting:
Vancouver Baptist Church, 3138 N. Vancouver
2752 N. Williams Ave • 284 7722
Hazel G. Hays, President
May 15 Meeting:
Antioch Church, 5936 N. Minnesota
Rosa Parks
••Actually, no one can understand the action
o f Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually
the cup o f endurance runs over, and the human
personality cries out. *1 can take it no longer.*
Mrs. Parks’ refusal to move back was her
intrepid affirm ation that she had had enough
. . . . She was anchored to that seat by the
accumulated indignities o f days gone by and
the boundless aspirations o f generations yet
unknown.”
— M artin Luther King
Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church
3138 N. Vancouver Avenue
Dr. O.B. Williams. Pastor
Page 10 Section II Portland Observer. February 23. 1963
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W orld Peace Conference, Paris, 1949