The US congressional testimony by Jackie Robinson, the first African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era, against the famous entertainer and international civil rights activist Paul Robeson, was an American Cold War incident.
Paul Robeson's post World War II persecution by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI and the political right in the U.S. was, in part, due to his vocal support for the Soviet Union, which was a cause célèbre among well-known artists and scientists during the 1930s and 1940s.
In the 1950s, McCarthyism and the Red Scare dominated the headlines, and many artists, scientists or academics with leftist affiliations who failed to denounce communism became unemployabled and blacklisted.
[5] The owners gave Robeson a round of applause and, after the meeting, Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis remarked that there was no rule on the books denying blacks entry into the league.
In July 1949, Robinson eventually agreed to testify before HUAC, fearing that declining to do so might negatively and permanently damage not only his career but also the future integration of professional athletics.
[8] 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.
"[9][10] Robinson left the capital immediately after his testimony to avoid, as the black newspaper New Age pointed out, "being Jim Crowed by Washington's infamous lily-white hotels.
"[11] In general, Robinson's testimony placated Americans worried about the threat of Communism,[12] and reaction in the mainstream press was positive, including an article by Eleanor Roosevelt in which she wrote, "Mr. Robeson does his people great harm in trying to line them up on the Communist side of political picture.
And I do have increased respect for Paul Robeson who, over the span of twenty years, sacrificed himself, his career, and the wealth and comfort he once enjoyed because, I believe, he was sincerely trying to help his people.
When one committee member asked him why he hadn't remained in the Soviet Union, he replied, Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you.