When Peoria’s mayor offered to let singer Paul Robeson perform at City Hall, conservatives in Peoria cried foul \u2014 only a complete ban would satisfy them \u2014 and the mayor withdrew the invitation. Robeson was left without an official venue, and so gave a more impromptu performance in the home of local black trade unionist Ajay Martin.<\/p>\n
The African-American press was much more sympathetic to the cause of Robeson than newspapers like the Chicago Tribune <\/em>or New York Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Chicago Defender <\/em>noted that\u00a0Robeson was backed by a coalition of “progressive citizens, the liberal press, and fellow artists,” and allowed Robeson to give an account of himself. According to Robeson, he was happy to be a “Red” if that term included such American patriots as Henry Wallace, FDR’s Vice President.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Peoria’s mayor offered to let singer Paul Robeson perform at City Hall, conservatives in Peoria cried foul \u2014 only a complete ban would satisfy them \u2014 and the mayor withdrew the invitation. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,157,235,9,24],"tags":[163,162,146,124],"class_list":["post-2633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1946-52","category-robeson-blackballed-in-peoria","category-a-more-lonely-crusade","category-peoria-an-introduction","category-segregation-desegregation","tag-ajay-martin","tag-anti-communism","tag-paul-robeson","tag-segregation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n