The United States federal government kept surveillance on legendary civil rights champion/ singer Paul Robeson, for over 30 years.
FBI documents reveal that the feds used wiretapping’s, bugged Robeson’s house and intercepted his mail, because they felt he was a threat to national security.
Paul Robeson was a civil rights activist as early as 1937 and by 1942, a documentary titled “Native Land” was labeled as communist propaganda by the FBI.
Due to his political beliefs, which were revolutionary for the day, the FBI concluded that Paul Robeson was a member of the Communist Party.
In 1950 he was denied a passport, because the government believed that his frequent criticism of “the treatment of blacks in the United States should not be aired in foreign countries.”
In 1956, Paul Robeson refused to sign an affidavit affirming that he was not a Communist, and during hearings, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right and refused to reveal his political affiliations.
In fact, Paul Robeson was included on a list of individuals who should be “detained” within 24 hours, in case there was a national emergency in the United States.
The singer went into a self-imposed exile in London, where he believed the FBI and the CIA were still attempting to “neutralize” him.
After spending two years in a sanatorium, Paul Robeson returned to the United States where he lived the rest of his life in relative seclusion.
Share this content:
