Why Did Jackie Robinson Join McCarthyist Campaign Against Paul Robeson?
January 23, 2026
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10:34Now PlayingWhy Did Jackie Robinson Join McCarthyist Campaign Against Paul Robeson?
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Today marks the 50th anniversary of Paul Robeson's death on January 23, 1976. The actor, singer, athlete and scholar was once famous around the world, but he was attacked, blacklisted and hounded by the government for his political beliefs. Jackie Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers star who had integrated the all-white major baseball leagues, was hailed as a national hero in 1949 for testifying against Robeson before the House Un-American Activities Committee run by Senator Joseph McCarthy. For more, we speak with sports journalist Howard Bryant, author of the new book "Kings and Pawns" that looks at how Robeson and Robinson's paths intertwined at the height of the McCarthy era.
"History writes people out of the story, and it's our job to write them back in," Bryant says. Fifty years after Paul Robeson's death, "it's time for a reappraisal of one of the great Americans."
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