Editing Paul Robeson (section)

===1956–1957: End of McCarthyism===
{{Main|Paul Robeson congressional hearings}}
On June 12, 1956, Robeson was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee after he refused to sign an affidavit affirming he was not a Communist. He attempted to read his prepared statement into the [[Congressional Record]], but the Committee denied him that opportunity.<ref>{{cite web |title=STATEMENT: Paul Robeson Before the House Un-American Activities Committee, June 12, 1956 |website=Black Agenda Report |url=https://www.blackagendareport.com/statement-paul-robeson-house-un-american-activities-committee-june-12-1956 |date=11 September 2024}}</ref> During questioning, he invoked the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fifth Amendment]] and declined to reveal his political affiliations. When asked why he had not remained in the Soviet Union, given his affinity with its political ideology, he replied, "because my father was a slave and my people died to build [the United States and], I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you and no fascist-minded people will drive me from it!"<ref name="HUAC">{{cite web|url=http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6440|title=Testimony of Paul Robeson before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, June 12, 1956|publisher=History Matters|access-date=January 30, 2015|archive-date=February 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210221223044/http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6440/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhnCrHZkgNk|title=Testimony of Paul Robeson before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, June 12, 1956|date=February 28, 2019 |publisher=YouTube|access-date=November 5, 2021|archive-date=November 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105160911/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhnCrHZkgNk|url-status=live}}</ref> At that hearing, Robeson stated "Whether I am or not a Communist is irrelevant. The question is whether American citizens, regardless of their political beliefs or sympathies, may enjoy their constitutional rights."<ref name="HUAC2">{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/robeson|title=The Many Faces of Paul Robeson <!--June 12, 1956-->|publisher=US National Archives|access-date=February 3, 2017|date=August 15, 2016|archive-date=February 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227134310/https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/robeson|url-status=live}}</ref>

Due to the reaction to the promulgation of Robeson's political views, his recordings and films were removed from public distribution, and he was universally condemned in the U.S. press.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/intothemusic/paul-robeson/4691690|title=Paul Robeson: the singer who fought for justice and paid with his life|date=June 7, 2013|first=Nicole|last=Steinke|work=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|access-date=May 7, 2019|archive-date=January 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124004825/https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/intothemusic/paul-robeson/4691690|url-status=live}}</ref> During the height of the Cold War, it became increasingly difficult in the United States to hear Robeson sing on commercial radio, buy his music or see his films.{{sfn|Robeson|1978b|pp=3–8}}

In 1956, in the United Kingdom, [[Topic Records]], at that time part of the Workers Music Association, released a single of Robeson singing the labor anthem "[[Joe Hill (song)|Joe Hill]]", written by [[Alfred Hayes (writer)|Alfred Hayes]] and [[Earl Robinson]], backed with "[[John Brown's Body]]". In 1956, after public pressure brought a one-time exemption to the travel ban, Robeson performed two concerts in Canada in February, one in Toronto and the other at a union convention in Sudbury, Ontario.{{sfn|Goodman|2013|page=224}}

Still unable to perform abroad in person, on May 26, 1957, Robeson sang for a London audience at [[Camden Town Hall|St. Pancras Town Hall]] (where the 1,000 available concert tickets for "Let Robeson Sing" sold out within an hour) via the recently completed transatlantic telephone cable [[TAT-1]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Robeson sings: the first transatlantic telephone cable |url=https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/robeson-sings-first-transatlantic-telephone-cable |access-date=January 11, 2023 |website=Science Museum |language=en |date=October 10, 2018 |archive-date=January 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111131959/https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/robeson-sings-first-transatlantic-telephone-cable |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite episode|title=TAT-1|series=Hidden Histories of the Information Age|credits=Presenters: [[Aleks Krotoski]]|station=[[BBC Radio 4]]|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04m3bcc|airdate=January 5, 2016|minutes=9:50|access-date=December 20, 2024|archive-date=June 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620062847/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04m3bcc|url-status=live}}</ref> In October of that year, using the same technology, Robeson sang to an audience of "perhaps 5,000" at [[Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl|Porthcawl's Grand Pavilion]] in Wales.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/images/robeson/|title=Showcase: Let Robeson Sing|last=Howard|first=Tony|date=January 29, 2009|publisher=[[University of Warwick]]|access-date=November 15, 2011|archive-date=February 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220112912/http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/images/robeson/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sparrow |first1=Jeff|author-link=Jeff Sparrow|title=How Paul Robeson found his political voice in the Welsh valleys|type=edited extract from Sparrow's ''No Way But This – In Search of Paul Robeson'' (2017)|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/02/how-paul-robeson-found-political-voice-in-welsh-valleys |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |access-date=September 7, 2021 |date=July 2, 2017 |archive-date=May 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506081954/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jul/02/how-paul-robeson-found-political-voice-in-welsh-valleys |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Nikita Khrushchev]]'s denunciation of [[Stalinism]] at the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|1956 Party Congress]] silenced Robeson on Stalin, although Robeson continued to praise the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Duberman|1989|p=437}} That year Robeson, along with close friend [[W.E.B. Du Bois]], compared the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|anti-Soviet uprising in Hungary]] to the "same sort of people who overthrew the Spanish Republican Government" and supported the Soviet invasion and suppression of the revolt.<ref name="finger"/>

Robeson's passport was finally restored in 1958 as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision in ''[[Kent v. Dulles]]'' where the majority ruled that the denial of a passport without [[due process]] amounted to a violation of constitutionally protected liberty under the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|5th Amendment]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Glass |first1=Andrew |title=Paul Robeson loses passport appeal, Aug. 16, 1955 |journal=Politico |date=August 16, 2018 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/16/paul-robeson-loses-passport-appeal-aug-16-1955-774738 |access-date=September 7, 2017 |archive-date=November 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181126072600/https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/16/paul-robeson-loses-passport-appeal-aug-16-1955-774738 |url-status=live }}</ref>