The Undiscovered Paul Robeson by Paul Robeson Jr

Author:Paul Robeson, Jr. [Paul Robeson, Jr.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780470569689
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2010-05-11T05:00:00+00:00

The Canadian Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union invited Paul to sing a concert on February 1, 1952, in conjunction with their annual convention in Vancouver, British Columbia. However, at the State Department’s request, the INS instructed its Seattle district to prevent Paul’s departure from the United States at the Blaine, Washington, border crossing and also made arrangements with the Canadian Immigration Service to deny him entry.

When Paul arrived at the U.S. border crossing in Blaine on January 31, his car was stopped; he was taken to the INS office and presented with the formal order preventing him from leaving the United States. Failure to comply would result in a prison sentence of up to five years and a $5,000 fine. Although he protested the order as a violation of his constitutional rights, he complied and returned to Seattle.

The following day at a press conference held at the Marine, Cooks and Stewards union hall, Paul said, “I’m here in Seattle and not in Vancouver because I am a black American who dares to stand up and say, ‘I’m as good as you are.’ I’m confident the [appeals] court will rule in my favor. What else can it do? The basic question is that of free speech, and in my case I’m being deprived of my interest in concerts which are a livelihood.”

Paul then spoke over a telephone connected to a public address system to a Vancouver mass meeting organized by the Canadian Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers. The Seattle Marine, Cooks and Stewards recorded the event and made it available to members of both unions. Subsequently the two unions invited Paul to Peace Arch Park in Blaine in May. The park, divided by the U.S.-Canadian border, would enable Paul to appear on a platform located on the U.S. side of the border and perform for the audience gathered on both sides.13

On May 18, during his Freedom Fund tour, Paul appeared at the Peace Arch and sang to forty thousand people—thirty-five thousand on the Canadian side of the border and the rest on the American side. The Canadian roads were so jammed with automobiles that thousands had to walk more than a mile to reach the site. The sponsoring unions decided on the spot to repeat the concert as an annual event. The INS, as detailed in their May 19 and May 27, 1952, memoranda, photographed the license plates of the cars that drove to the concert on the American side and filmed the audience. The results were forwarded to the FBI.

Paul’s tour was made possible by local committees made up mostly of black members of left-wing unions and black church-people, supported by local white communists and progressives. He visited fourteen cities, including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Detroit, encountering many difficulties along the way. The mayor of San Francisco denied Paul use of the Opera House, and the Oakland City Council refused him the main city auditorium. In Seattle, Jack Kinzell, a popular radio personality and prominent supporter of Paul’s concert, was fired.

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