As payback for its involvement in the visit by Paul Robeson to Peoria, the Illinois State Commander of the American Legion revoked the charter of Peoria’s “all-Negro” chapter. According to the State Commander, the post’s leader, C.A. Hazelwood, had “participated in activities demonstrating his association” with people engaged in “disseminating communistic ideologies.”<\/p>\n
Hazelwood explained in his defense that, when he helped sponsor the Robeson visit, he was acting as a leader of the NAACP, not the American Legion. In the aftermath of the Robeson controversy, the American Legion chapter narrowly re-elected Hazelwood as commander of its post.<\/p>\n
For his part, Hazelwood denied any association with communism, stating “I know nothing about communism and I want the world to know it. I was gassed in the first world war. I know the American ideals. How could I be a communist?”<\/p>\n
The incident suggested how the anti-Communist crusade reverberated in all-black organizations born out of segregation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As payback for its involvement in the visit by Paul Robeson to Peoria, the Illinois State Commander of the American Legion revoked the charter of Peoria’s “all-Negro” chapter. According to the State Commander, […]<\/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":[162,173,176,146,145],"class_list":["post-2720","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-anti-communism","tag-cold-war","tag-national-association-for-the-advancement-of-colored-people-naacp","tag-paul-robeson","tag-the-american-legion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n