Jackie Robinson's Testimony To HUAC (April 1949)
At an international student peace conference held in Paris on April 20, 1949, Robeson made the widely publicized controversial comments that American blacks would not support the United States in a post-World War II Cold War with the Soviet Union. The subsequent controversy caused the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to investigate Robeson. HUAC sought the testimony of the African American baseball star Jackie Robinson on the subject. In July 1949, Robinson eventually agreed to testify before HUAC, fearing that declining to do so might negatively and permanently damage his career. His testimony was a major media event, with Robinson's carefully worded statement appearing on the front page of The New York Times the following day.
Read more about this topic: Political Views Of Paul Robeson
Famous quotes containing the words jackie, robinson and/or testimony:
“I have nothing against the Queen of England. Even in my heart I never resented her for not being Jackie Kennedy. She is, to my mind, a very gallant lady, victimized by whoever it is who designs the tops of her uniforms.”
—Leonard Cohen (b. 1934)
“Passion is here a soilure of the wits,
We’re told, and Love a cross for them to bear;
Joy shivers in the corner where she knits
And Conscience always has the rocking-chair,
Cheerful as when she tortured into fits
The first cat that was ever killed by Care.”
—Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)
“I have been too long acquainted with human nature to have great regard for human testimony; and a very great degree of probability, supported by various concurrent circumstances, conspiring in one point, will have much greater weight with me, than human testimony upon oath, or even upon honour; both of which I have frequently seen considerably warped by private views.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)