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Jackie Robinson 1949 Address to the House Un-American Activities Committee Original Typewritten Copy with Handwritten Notes
Two years after shattering baseball's color barrier, Jackie went before the House Un-American Activities Committee on July 18, 1949, to respond to remarks by the black actor Paul Robeson that most blacks would not fight a war against Communist Russia. This, the final draft of his speech, is an original typewritten copy that he may have read from or just used as a proof copy. Has profound significance as these comments helped defuse the issue -- yet they also caused problems with some civil rights leaders and later forced Jackie to recant some of it. In the neatly-typed 4-page document, his ambivalence is evident ("It isn't exactly pleasant involved in a political dispute"), yet he gives no quarter about the race struggle, saying progress "must go on." He addresses Robeson in just one paragraph, saying simply what Robeson said "sound very silly to me." However, in his closing remarks, he says he had too much invested in his family and country to "throw it away because of a siren sung in bass." Years later, while defending his sentiments, he disavowed the phrasing, which he admitted dissed Robeson. On that final page is a red-penciled edit mark moving his intended ending about being a "religious man" into the previous paragraph and ending instead with, "We can win our fight against the Communists and we don't want their help." The pages are 9 x 13 1/2" and EX-MT. This fascinating document comes right from the Robinson family archives.
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