Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist (1998) - full transcript

Hi.

I'm Morgan Freeman.

You know, Paul robeson,
the great singer and activist,

used to sing a song called
"scandalize my name."

Ironically, because of the red
scare during the cold war,

that song came
to define his life,

because his name along with
that of many other performers,

was scandalized by what came
to be known as mccarthyism.

Now, black performers were
particularly vulnerable

because we had just begun
to be taken seriously.

And any outspokenness
against racism



was seen as the work
of communist agitators.

Many of the performers
you will see in this film

you may not recognize.

Goes to show how blacklisting
could make people disappear.

A group of former FBI agents,
with hoover's support,

put together this book
"red channels,"

which claims to be a list

of all the members of the
broadcast entertainment industry

who had communist affiliations.

"Red channels"
became so successful

that other groups
formed their own lists,

so the blacklist grew.

And the only way you could tell
you were on this list

is if you didn't get any work
and people shunned you.



And perhaps worst of all
was the slander of your name

and of the causes
you believed in.

Reading this book today is like
an honor roll of entertainers,

people in the industry,

who had the courage
and enough care

to lend their name
and talents to help others.

When the film begins, of course,
we're in a happier time.

Late '30s and early '40s,

people were trucking up
to Harlem

looking for a bright future.

If you were an actor
you might try

to get into dick Campbell's
Rose mclendon players

or Frederick O'Neal's
American negro theater.

Though ten years later,

both O'Neal and Campbell
were blacklisted for demanding

better representation
for blacks on television.

But when our story begins,
Harlem was the place to be.

I can remember the time when,

from 110th street
to 155th street,

on 7th Avenue,

it was called Harlem's Broadway

and white people on Sunday
morning would come up there,

and drive very slowly

because that was the day
when all of the colored people,

all of US,
were dressed to the nines.

I mean to the nines,
with the gloves, with the veil,

with the earrings,
with your best Sunday dress

and people who lived
on that Avenue

would look out and say
"here they come a'struttin."

There's something of
an institution in Harlem

in the days
when I came along, about 1928.

It's called the tree of hope.

There was actually a tree

on the corner of 131st street
and 7th Avenue in Harlem.

Those were the days when
you walked by the Lafayette,

where all the beautiful,

wonderful talented artists
would be standing between shows,

underneath the tree of hope.

And it was once said that

they could cast any black show
they wanted to cast

by coming up to 131st street
and 7th Avenue in Harlem

and they'd find all the black
actors that they wanted,

right there under
the tree of hope.

So that's where we stood,
under the tree of hope,

hoping that some white producer
would come uptown

and would hire some of US
to go downtown.

Ms. Lenoire:
If you were out of work all you
did was walk across the street,

right in the middle
of the street,

put your hand there
and make your wish

and sure enough you'd get a job
the next week or something.

In 1936 I came to New York

and there my first work
was with dick Campbell

and his particular group there,
the Rose mclendon players.

On the 23rd of April in 1939
I arrived in New York.

On that Monday I went and found
the Rose mclendon players,

dick Campbell was on stage
nailing something

and I asked him if I could join.

I was nailing scenery and
standing up, my back was to him.

He came in and he said
"mister Campbell?"

I said "yes."

He said "may I join
your theater group?"

I said "well, with a voice
like that I would say yes."

And I turned around
and looked to see who it was,

and here was this long, tall,
skinny looking fellow,

he looked very hungry.

I said "you want to be
in the theater?"

He said "yes, sir."

When I came out of the Navy

I became a building
superintendent,

assistant to a building
superintendent.

And while doing the repairs
in an apartment

for one of the tenants,

I had been given two tickets
as a gratuity to attend

a performance at a place called
the American negro theater.

I learned about
the American negro theater

from an elevator operator

in the building
that I was living in.

He said "why don't you go over
there and try to find out

if there isn't something you can
do because in those shows

you don't have to sing and dance
like in these other shows.

You don't have to act
dumb and stupid,

carrying a tray and whatnot."

I didn't care what I had to do.

I just wanted to be
in the environment.

I found it very stimulating.

I found that
there was an intellect,

that there was a scholarship,
there was purpose.

And I was looking for purpose
and I thought this would be

a very good place
in which to start.

♪ This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine. ♪

♪ This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine. ♪

♪ This little light of mine,
I'm gonna let it shine, ♪

♪ let it shine,
let it shine, let it shine ♪

♪ all through the night,
I'm gonna let it shine. ♪

♪ All through the night,
I'm gonna let it shine. ♪

♪ All through the night, ♪

♪ let it shine, let it shine,
let it shine. ♪

I came out of the service
with great expectations.

That we had just
defeated fascism,

we had just defeated
totalitarianism,

we had just defeated philosophy
of white supremacy.

The world was in a mood
of great rejoicing.

One of the things
that impressed me most

about the New York
theatrical scene

when I came back from the war,

was an awareness
on everybody's part that the war

had been a serious challenge
on the subject of race.

We were all still shocked
at what had happened in Europe

to the millions of Jews
and others in those camps.

I'd expected that america
would be open and generous

and rewarding to
its black citizens

who had served in that war
and had served with great honor.

There seemed to be
a determination

immediately after the war
to say to ourselves

"that would never happen again"

that on the subject of race,
we were one, we were equal

and we were partners
and brothers.

When we came back there were
many forces in america,

very powerful,

that decided that those of US
who had been brainwashed

with these new ideas
from the war,

that thought we could come back

and change the way america
was doing business

was in for a very cruel
and a huge surprise.

We were going to go back
to conditions as was before.

We were to be a bunch of niggers
who were to come back

and get those thoughts of
freedom out of our heads.

We were seriously concerned that
america be a different place,

as far as race was concerned.

And that gave US a common
objective that was bigger,

even than the parts
we were playing.

Broadway had a kind of social
as well as a cultural function,

which we took quite seriously.

At the end of
a performance every night,

somebody would say "hey let's
go over to so and so's,

they're raising funds
to defend Willy McGee"

or somebody had been lynched
in the south

or some atrocity had happened.

We made it our business to
become part of any force

that was speaking out
against this inhumane cruelty.

Mr. Davis: And we were
determined to force the issue

of justice for everybody
onto the public consciousness.

And the total theatrical
community, in my mind,

seemed to be caught up in that.

The producers were involved,
the directors, the actors,

the writers.

We belonged to a sort of
a blessed confraternity.

And we were glad to be comrades

and marching forward
in the same struggle.

We didn't know how thoroughly
we were being watched.

Certainly not in '46, '47, '48.

All of a sudden
there emerged this...

...this noise that erupted,

this group that started
the talk about any and all of US

who dared to embark on such
conduct were unpatriotic

and were working towards
the worst interests of our home,

our patriotism was to be
seriously challenged

and some of US listened
to these utterances

with complete disbelief.

As a matter of fact it was a
huge stretch of the imagination

to suggest that those of US

who had struggled against
racism and oppression, sexism,

and all the things we struggled
against were unpatriotic.

When in fact we knew
and felt righteously strong.

♪ There's an old man
called the Mississippi, ♪

♪ that's the old man
I don't like to be. ♪

♪ What does he care
if the world's got troubles? ♪

♪ What does he care
if the land ain't free? ♪

♪ Old man river,
that old man river, ♪

♪ he must know something
but don't say nothin'. ♪

♪ He just keeps rolling,
he keeps on rolling along. ♪

My experience with Paul robeson
was on more levels than one.

On the personal level,
he was an immediate mentor

and hero for those of US
in the theater,

who wanted to be actors.

We wanted to be,
to some degree, like he was.

He was huge, he was beautiful,
he could sing,

and he was an athlete,
and he was sexy.

He had all of the positive
things that a young man

and a young woman
could be inspired by.

Paul represented to US

that top moment,
the top possibility.

An artist in every sense
of the word

but his art was not only
an expression of his own talent

or his love for beauty,

it was his expression of
concern for the rest of US.

The artist was the nurturer,
the artist was the defender,

the artist was the spokesperson.

He helped me interpret song,
he inspired me,

he gave me a platform
in which to learn,

to understand much about human
conduct and human affairs.

His sensitivity, his honor,
his honesty, his compassion,

all played a huge role
in how I perceived

art and artists to be.

And how powerful we were
and what we could achieve.

He was one of the greatest
figures in American culture.

A singer, a giant of a man,

an all American football player,

phi beta kappa, law student,

actor, shakespearean,
and a leader of his people.

And so inspiring was he
and so powerful was he,

that at all costs,
he had to be silenced.

And as a matter of fact
on the agenda to silence him

was the understanding
that if we can silence him,

all others will come
far more easily.

Paul was a threat because he

was a tremendously intelligent
and well learned man.

Paul also had charisma
in the same sense

that Martin Luther King
had charisma,

in other words Paul
was the kind of man

that could lead
masses of people.

And those who understand
those things

knew that Paul robeson
was a man

who could affect
large majorities.

Now all this took place
in an atmosphere super heated

by the relationships between
Russia and america at the time.

Newsreel announcer:
The growing menace
of communism arouses

the house of representatives'

unamerican activities
committee.

Among the well informed
witnesses testifying

is j. Edgar hoover,

head of the federal bureau
of investigation.

Mr. Hoover speaks with
authority on the subject.

The communist party
of the United States

is a fifth column
if there ever was one.

It is far better
organized than were

the Nazis in occupied countries
prior to their capitulation.

They are seeking
to weaken america,

just as they did
in their era of obstruction,

when they were aligned
with the Nazis.

Their goal is the overthrow
of our government.

There is no doubt as to where a
real communist's loyalty rests.

Their allegiance is to Russia,
not the United States.

The reason that robeson
was a very strong supporter

of the Soviet union was,

it was his belief that they
had no discrimination policies

against blacks there
or against anybody else.

Well, he was treated like
a prince whenever he came there.

[Russian announcer
introducing Paul robeson]

He didn't really know
what was going on

in the rest of the country.

So his identification with
the Soviet union,

whether he was
an actual communist or not

was unimportant, he was theirs
and he supported them,

in policies,
both political and cultural,

and made a big speech
at one point

that no black man
and no black person in america

would ever go to war
against the Soviet union,

which sounded like
he was calling for treason

among the black population
in the United States.

Mr. Davis: The statement he made

about blacks not fighting
against their own interests

was interpreted by a lot to
mean that he was saying to US

"you blacks can't fight,

you shouldn't fight
the Russians, no matter what."

Then the powers that be,
meaning j. Edgar hoover,

had to cut down Paul's influence

and they set out
to demolish the man

and they took some heavy bites
out of him.

Newsreel announcer:
Baseball's top hitter

and star second baseman
of the Brooklyn Dodgers,

Jackie Robinson,
comes to bat for uncle Sam

to refute Paul robeson's remark

that u.S. Negroes would not
fight in a war against Russia.

I'm on my way to Washington
to testify

before the house unamerican
activities committee.

That's all I can say
at this time,

I'll make further statements
in Washington.

Robinson is the last witness
to testify

concerning the loyalty of
the members of his race and

before the committee he reads
his own prepared statement.

I've been asked to express

my views on Paul robeson's
statements in Paris,

to the effect that American
negroes would refuse to fight

in any war against Russia
because we love Russia so much.

I haven't any comment to make
on that statement,

except that if mister robeson
actually made it,

it sounds very silly to me,
and most negroes and Italians,

and Irish, and Jews, and Swedes,
and slavs and other Americans

would act just as all these
groups did in the last war.

They'd do their best to keep
their country out of war.

If unsuccessful, they'd do
their best to help their country

win the war against Russia,

or any other enemy
that threatened US.

Jackie came into the big leagues
in 1947

and we appreciated,
we loved, and we honored

and were honored by him
and his behavior,

both on the baseball field
and off.

We recognize the tremendous
pressure that was on him.

We recognize that he was
required not to hit back.

We recognize that he had been,
to some degree,

willing to give up his own life

so that baseball and
the people who controlled it

could make a statement
that would open up the doors.

So I assume the pressure
was put on Jackie

and there he was
in that symbolic position

and I remember years later,

Jackie himself still carrying
the scar and pain

of having to do that.

And it broke his heart
and it broke our hearts, too.

So the blacks here said

"hey, wait a minute,
wait a minute,"

you know,
the organization people,

"we don't want to get
too close to Paul.

We love him like a brother
but he can be poison to US,

we have more important
things to do,

we're trying to fight to get our
rights to go into restaurants,

to go into housing,
to get jobs on an equal basis,

and Paul robeson is just
muddying the waters

with the talk about
the Soviet union."

And so he was alienated
and isolated from all sides.

If you're looking
to create disunity,

if you're looking to destroy
something that is strong,

and good, and real and needed,

you must go after
the most powerful voice

that articulates that agenda.

No voice was greater
than Paul robeson's

in talking about democracy
and the rights of human beings.

There is one of
the greatest cultural figures

in American history,

and he was banned in effect
from making a living.

Nobody wanted to touch him,

couldn't get a passport
to go to Europe,

his concerts here
were kind of damaged.

♪ I met my brother
the other day, ♪

♪ I gave him my right hand. ♪

♪ And just as soon
as ever my back was turned, ♪

♪ he scandalized my name. ♪

♪ Now do you call
that a brother? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ You call that a brother? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ You call that a brother? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Scandalize my name. ♪

In American politics
there's always been a large use

of labels or scare words,
behind which were issues

which were not brought out
into the open.

Now during the first world war
it was anarchists.

By the time of
the second world war,

anarchists no longer seemed
very interesting,

but it was more interesting
to call people communists

because of the rise
of the Soviet union.

If you remember, for the longest
time the majority of power

in congress, the decisive power,

was wielded by,
not the dixiecrats,

but the southern component.

Their power rested
entirely on the fact

that they represented districts
where blacks could not vote

in which blacks
were in a majority.

So if the blacks won the vote,

their power would end
immediately.

And they were the ones who were
most ardent in their pursuit

of the red devils,
and they were the ones

who were most ardent
in keeping the blacks down.

We know that to j. Edgar hoover,

an interest in improving
the status of the negro

was a communist symptom.

Just as the idea of being
interested in better relations

with the Soviet union
was a communist symptom.

Announcer:
In recognizing a communist,

physical appearance
counts for nothing.

If a person consistently
reads and advocates the views

expressed in
a communist publication,

he may be a communist.

Before McCarthy came along,
the industry,

both Hollywood
and broadcasting,

had already established what
McCarthy was accused of doing,

of sort of terrorizing
the people who worked in it.

I can remember very well
when I first saw "red channels"

because it was my 42nd birthday
and I happened to wander

into a bookstore
and there was this thing,

"red channels" with a microphone
and a red hand over it,

and I picked it up to look
at it, it was one dollar,

and I suddenly saw
what it was purported to be,

a documentation of a conspiracy

to take over the broadcast media
for the Soviet cause.

That's what it said it was, and
this was a list of 151 people

that showed who
the conspirators were.

The point of this book was
everything you wanted to know

about every writer or performer

and most of these people
were well known performers

who had appeared at functions
during the war

that had been supported
by the war departments

and Mrs. Roosevelt,
who herself was suspect.

What they are being
condemned for was all the things

that had been liberal impulses
over the last 20 years.

More rights for the negro,
civil liberties,

better relations with
the Soviet union, peace.

"Red channels" was
the beginning of it,

but this was such
a nice business

that other agencies grew up
and did the same sort of thing.

There was an organization
called "aware,"

which very aggressively began
to list other people

who were not in "red channels."

There was a publication
called "counter attack."

There was one called "aware,"

and then there was
the Attorney General

of the United States of America,
who had his own list.

The state department had a list.

J. Edgar hoover and the FBI
had a list.

The ku klux klan had a list,

all the white citizen's groups
had a list.

Some unions had a list.

You had these clearance bodies
set up by some group

that decided,
since they had the expertise,

they could read newspapers
and clip the daily worker

and find out who appeared
at a certain kind of function

as a singer, as a writer,
as a performer.

Before you knew it,
some of the best people

in the business
were being blacklisted.

♪

Throughout the 1940s,
something which could be used

against my mother
and many others

was the assertion that
the causes that they embraced

were also causes that
the communist party embraced.

When my mother was confronted
with this, she said

"I'm not going to relax
my efforts to get equal rights

for people of color
merely because

the communist party
also embraces that effort."

And she rejected as totally
false any attempt to claim

that she was a communist
or communist sympathizer

because of her work
for civil rights.

One of the criticisms of her

was that she had entertained
Soviet troops.

"There you are, entertaining
troops of our enemy."

I remember a reporter
asking her about this.

"Miss Scott,

how could you have entertained
these troops of our enemies?"

And she said
"well, look at the date.

It was 1943 and if you recall
we were their allies then."

She did a great deal
of entertaining of troops and

quite often you had joint forces
toward the end of the war,

so she thought it was
no small irony

that she was accused of being
unpatriotic for something which

five years earlier had been
the height of patriotism.

And at the same time,

she was married to a very
controversial member of congress

who himself was the object
of attacks

by some of his colleagues
and others.

She was convinced that
his enemies also had used her

as a way to reach him and that
she was particularly vulnerable

because of the fact
that her livelihood

depended on acceptance,

not only by the public,
who are buying the tickets

and turning on her radio show
and television show,

but also by the networks
and the advertisers.

An atmosphere of mystery
hung over the whole business

of "red channels."

The copies disappeared
into the desks of executives

and they began to use them

to decide whether
or not to hire an actor.

One of the themes
of my mother's appearance

before the unamerican
activities committee

was her repeated denials
of the truth

of what had been published.

She said "this is not true"

and it was improper
for a publisher

to in effect try to
end someone's career

by publishing inaccurate
information.

My mother kept pointing out
that at no time had anyone

made a single
telephone call to her,

sent a telegram to her,

sent a letter to her asking
"is any of this true?"

The agency tried very hard

not to put anything in writing
about this whole system.

They even corrupted the language
to take care of it.

They didn't say
"he's not acceptable"

they said "he's not available."

In fact, her appearance
before the committee

was at her request.

She hadn't been subpoenaed,

many people advised her
not to do it.

She said this is a matter
where not only my career,

but my name have been taken
and used improperly.

Here you had someone who had had
her own network radio program

from the early '40s, on.

You had someone who was,
I believe,

the first black headliner

of a weekly network
television program,

who appeared in movies regularly
and all that stopped,

and it all stopped just after
the time of her appearance

before the committee.

It's important to remember
that this whole dreadful period

happened at the very birth
of television.

Television in its first years
lived in this atmosphere

of backbiting and
defamation and fear,

which I'm sure had an enormous
effect on its future.

When I first discovered
the blacklist,

I had gone to see my agent

and it was about getting
a job in television.

And he was an agent

in one of the most powerful
agencies in america

and I was just at the threshold

of the launching
of my own career.

And he pulled out a drawer in
his desk, reached for a phone,

it was not part
of the regular phone bank,

he dialed a number and all
he did was to give my name,

Harry Belafonte, and then
he waited for instruction

and then he hung up the phone,
closed the drawer,

and said "you're on the list,
you're unemployable."

We figured we would go crazy
if we tried to figure out

whether we were blacklisted
because we were black

or blacklisted
because we were red.

Evening old scores
is what this was all about.

Tradition was that, whoever won
the Tony award in the theater,

was on the following Sunday
after the awards were given

to appear on the most popular
television show in america,

the ed Sullivan show.

Ed Sullivan was rooted
in American journalism,

he was a most powerful reporter.

He and Walter winchell
and a host of journalists

used their tabloids to become
supporters of the black list.

And when my name came up
as the winner of the Tony award,

he was told
that I was unacceptable

and he then called me to come
and have an interview with him,

and I went.

And he said "you know,
there is some resistance

to your coming
on the show because of..."

And he read a list of things
that I had been accused of

and I said to him that many of
the things on the list were true

and other things
on the list were false.

But I do not choose to identify
which is true and which is false

because that is not
really the issue.

The issue is
my right to privacy,

my right to my beliefs
as an American citizen

and that I was sorry that
I did not have the opportunity

to appear on his show, I would
dearly have loved to do so,

it would have meant a lot
to my career

and I thanked him and I left.

That evening I got a call
from the very same agent

who had picked up the phone
in the other instance,

to tell me that I was on
the ed Sullivan show.

And that I should be prepared to
go to rehearsals that Saturday

and that Sunday,

and that I'd be on the air live
that same weekend.

This fact and this act forever
took me off the blacklist.

Just ed Sullivan's endorsement
alone gave me that relief.

But what it did do

was that it instantly raised
significant suspicion

among my colleagues
that I had betrayed them

because there was no way

for me to have gotten on
the ed Sullivan show

if I had not played
the betrayal game.

And it was a very, very,
very difficult time for me.

Down I went to CBS,
I'll never forget it,

and I stood in the doorway
where the typewriters were

and the producer was,

and he said
"yes, what are you doing?"

And he got up and he was in
his shirtsleeves

and he said, "we don't have any
maid's roles."

And I said "oh, I know, but I
thought maybe I would be allowed

to read for the receptionist"

and he drew himself up
with pure disgust, looked at me

and said "when the day comes

that we cast you people
in a receptionist role,

I will turn over in my grave."

The absence of black faces
on television's whole schedule

is racism much more

than any particular
racist remark might be.

So the most serious kind
of racism is invisible.

I must tell you
I was blacklisted.

I was a little bit tired
of seeing black actors in radio,

as well as television,
that had just come on the scene,

doing the kind of roles that
they were doing at all times.

Now dick was one of those people
and still is,

who always is aware
of what is going on

and what ain't going on.

And always takes
not only a position

but something in the back of
his mind always pushes dick

to do something about it.

So I set up a campaign
in the negro press.

I wrote articles and I put out
release after release,

complaining and protesting
against the type of roles

that black actors were
portraying in television

and on radio
and everywhere else.

And dick, as a part of being
dick Campbell, on one occasion,

since there were no blacks
in television, called on Harlem

to turn off the television set
on Saturday night.

I said "don't turn on your TV,
leave it black

because that's the only way
you can make the producers

understand that you want

a different type of show
on television.

So don't turn it on."
They said "why not turn it on?"

Because if you don't turn on
your television

the commercial producers will
know that the products are not

being sold to the audience
because ten percent

of the population of the united
states that owns television sets

are not watching,
so they will be losing money.

That's what it's all about.

So boycott on this
particular night.

And we set up the boycott
and it worked.

So then that's when
they called me downtown.

I was surprised that the powers
that be were so disturbed

but when they heard dick
calling for everybody,

they said
"oh no, we must do something."

And on the basis of that,
dick was sent for,

and he talked and he negotiated,

and he opened some doors
and got US some jobs.

Of course,
they never gave dick a job.

But here's what you have
to remember,

every role I played,
I was a maid,

I was either
the head housekeeper,

or I was the nursemaid
for the family,

or I was the janitor
or the day worker.

Those were the roles.

In my opinion, stereotypes
are not inherently offensive.

It is who uses the stereotype
and to what end.

In 1951 the naacp at
its convention condemned

"Amos and Andy,"

and in general people
were very surprised at that.

How can they condemn
"Amos and Andy?"

"Amos and Andy" had been,

for years, and years, and years,
the number one program.

Reportedly popular
in Harlem also.

So why were they suddenly
complaining about it?

So this opened a new discussion
about these symbols,

these stereotypes.

What in the world
am I going to do?

This ain't no joke, son.

I know, I'll go see
my lawyer Calhoun.

Kingfish, the thing
for you to do

is have your wife, sapphire,
go down to the draft board

and plead with them
not to take you.

Plead with them?

That's what I said,
plead with them.

Mister, you can't take
my husband to the army.

You can't do it, he's all
I've got in the world,

all I've got between me
and starvation.

And what will become of
our three little children?

Whose gonna take care
of little Dorothy,

and Peggy,
and little erma?

You can't take him,
not my man!"

Being a fool or being silly gave
the whites a chance to justify

a certain stereotype,
so we in the black community

had to hold our artists
to a higher standard

because they affected how we
were treated out in the world.

We had an organization that was
sort of fighting the practice

of the use that they were making
of negro actors at the time,

and this was the case
of "Amos and Andy."

We had particularly objected
to the way they described

the lawyer and we asked
that this be changed

and they made that change,

but he was just a petty
politician instead of a lawyer

because this gave
the wrong impression

of that particular profession
of legal representation.

I know you compromise
on a number of things

but you just don't compromise
on certain principles.

And so I don't compromise
on principles.

Ms. Lenoire:
Now Frederick O'Neal,

oh my god,
he was something else

and has always been because
Fred sacrificed his own career.

♪ Dere's a man a going 'round
taking names, ♪

♪ dere's a man
a going round... ♪

I was in a doctors' office
when two white men came in,

I remember I was lying down
and I looked up in their faces

and they said "rosetta lenoire?"
And I said "yes."

"Do you live at
2340 7th Avenue?"

I said "yes."

"Let me ask you something."

And then one of them
sat down and said

"let me ask you something...

Why is it that you attend
these red meetings?"

He said "well, you know that
you're on the blacklist,

tell me about Frederick O'Neal,
tell me about Sidney poitier,

tell me about Brock Peters
and whatnot."

And I said "the only thing
I can tell you about them

is that they're wonderful human
beings, they're gentle men,

and they're darned good artists,
that's what I know about them."

We did the Fred waring show

and I understand that CBS had
more correspondence on that show

than any other show
at that particular time.

[Applause]

World history week
inspires our production

of James weldon Johnson's great
poems from god's trombones.

After we did that, there was a
big rush to have it done again.

And so Fred got in touch
with me, Fred waring that is,

and asked me to come back.

When I got back,
I was surprised

that Fred O'Neal was no longer
with the production,

and I asked around,

and there seemed to be
a "hush hush" about it,

and then I asked Fred waring

and he said that a young man
in the chorus,

he would like for him to do it,

he had won an audition and
he would like for him to do it.

And I said

"well, you know, I expected
to find Fred O'Neal here."

And so there were whispers,
something about

Fred not being...You know,
a pinko or something like that

but when I would
walk in the room

the conversation would stop.

So I called Fred O'Neal, I said
"why aren't you doing it?"

He said "well, I wasn't
asked to do it."

I said "well, that's strange."

And he said
"well, I think I know why."

He gave as his excuse,
as far as I know,

that he had been accused
of not using blacks in his choir

and so forth and now that he had
this one black man in the choir

and he thought he had
better use him instead.

So I learned later that it was
mccarthyism that defeated me.

Everybody was so intimidated
by the power of

the house unamerican
activities committee,

Joe McCarthy and
all of those who serviced

that evil instrument
and that evil moment

was so overwhelming that people
became petrified,

they became calcified,
they became immobile,

they became impotent,
they became voiceless.

And in the midst of
that moment of weakness,

many people went to prison,
families were torn apart,

peoples' lives were wrecked.

Professionals and
unprofessionals were all

just cruelly relegated to
the dustbin of life and history

and this force
began to reign supreme.

Mccarthyism is something
that we should never forget,

the harm that it did
to so many innocent people

of every race, color and creed.

I know people
who jumped off roofs,

I know people who took pills,
tried to die.

Some of them didn't
but they were hurt.

A lot of them did die.

This was an awful period,
this period.

A lot of people
committed suicide,

not a lot of people but
some people committed suicide

and others it just ruined
their careers completely.

I made a pledge,
a solemn pledge.

Do you want
to commit mutiny?

Is it an order?

It's an order.

I can't, the guy's asleep.

We'll that's a break,
isn't it?

Yeah, but it's like
shooting a sitting duck.

For many of US,
Canada Lee was a huge icon.

He was one of the few actors
who had invaded Hollywood,

that brought a black presence
to the screen.

That was very different from
the traditional presence

that blacks were
forced to portray.

He was not a servant,
he was not a buffoon,

he didn't do anything

that was against
the dignity of our people.

He was a wonderful actor

and the parts that he played
were hugely inspiring.

I'll never forget Canada Lee

when we opened in Macbeth,
the Orson Wells production.

It took US months,
months and months of hard work

but we enjoyed it
because it was so different.

And Canada,
oh, he was in heaven.

And doggone it, if it wasn't
a smash hit, it is history now.

Canada played with US
in "Anna lucasta"

for a while, you know?

He was a very wonderful person
to work with.

He was a very humorous
person at times.

Canada was committed
to struggle,

Canada tried
to improve conditions.

♪

Can you go alone?

It would be better.

You will find me
next door at number 13.

There are people
from my church there

but their oldest daughter has
just run away

and is living with
a young loaf off the streets.

Knock there
when you're ready.

And when he went to
South Africa and came back,

he wanted to talk about
the situation in South Africa.

Well, at that time
I was producing shows

for the naacp
at Madison square garden.

He came backstage and said

"dick, let me go on,
please, let me go on.

I want to talk
about South Africa."

Finally I let him onstage,

he starts talking about
South Africa and discrimination

and so forth,
and I couldn't get him off.

I had to call and say

"hey Canada, come off,
come off, come off."

But he talked about it.

He was a great guy,
Canada Lee.

Canada ran into the general
atmosphere of repression

and I guess it
eventually destroyed him.

Canada paid the price of
going before the authorities,

calling press conferences,
trying to declare his name,

as did Jackie Robinson
who was a great sports figure,

as did Hazel Scott,

who was a great musician
and a wonderful woman.

They went before
and tried to play the game

on the basis of the rules
that had been given them

by these various committees
and vigilantes

and none of them succeeded.

The gay and the happy
and the devilish Canada

just absolutely,
slowly disappeared.

He got very quiet,
always thinking.

I do remember the time
when he couldn't get a job

and so he decided he'd go out on
Broadway with a shoeshine stand

and try and get work.

He was very angry
about the whole thing

and he once made a statement

"I think I'll get me
a shoeshine box

and go on 47th street
and Broadway and sit there

and wait for white folks to pass
by so I can shine their shoes."

That's what Canada Lee said.

At that time he was pretty well
washed up, you know?

And he became
very, very disillusioned

and I hate to say this but...

I'm sure he died of
a broken heart,

I'm positive of it.

And when he died,

all Harlem turned out
for Canada Lee's funeral.

I never saw such a big crowd at
a funeral in my life.

I know I'll never forget
the funeral,

it was the most quiet,
sad funeral ever.

♪ Oh, death is
the man taking names, ♪

♪ oh, death is
the man taking names, ♪

♪ he has taken
my mother's name ♪

♪ and has left
my heart in pain, ♪

♪ there's a man a going 'round
taking names. ♪

I supposed our first efforts
to prove to ourselves

and to the world that
we were more than cattle,

that we were more than apes
and more then subhuman beings

fit only to plow and to be
worked to death as slaves.

I supposed the first people
who could make a statement

that said we too are human
were those among US

who could sing or dance
or some way be entertaining.

The artist could go
where nobody else could go.

The artist could sometimes speak
to the people assembled,

the powerful people,

and say something about what
was happening to the rest of US.

When Jackie Robinson testified

before the house unamerican
activities committee,

he said something that was
taken out of the newsreel.

He said...

"The fact that it is a communist

who denounces injustice
in the courts,

police brutality, and lynching,

doesn't change the truth
of these charges.

Just because communists
kick up a big fuss

over racial discrimination
when it suits their purposes,

a lot of people pretend
that the whole issue

is a creation of
the communist imagination

and talk about communists
stirring up negroes to protest

only makes the present situation
worse than ever.

Negroes were stirred up
long before there was

a communist party
and will stay stirred up

long after the party
has disappeared.

Unless Jim crow has
disappeared by then as well."

Has it?

♪ I met my brother
the other day, ♪

♪ I gave him my right hand. ♪

♪ And just as soon
as ever my back was turned ♪

♪ he scandalized my name. ♪

♪ Now do you call
that a brother? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ You call that a brother? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Call that a brother? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Scandalize my name. ♪

♪ I met my sister
the other day, ♪

♪ I gave her my right hand, ♪

♪ and just as soon
as ever my back was turned, ♪

♪ she too,
scandalized my name. ♪

♪ Now do you call
that a sister? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ You call that a sister? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Call that a sister? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Scandalize my name. ♪

♪ I met my preacher
the other day, ♪

♪ I gave him my right hand, ♪

♪ and just as soon
as ever my back was turned, ♪

♪ he too,
scandalized my name. ♪

♪ Now do you call
that religion? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ You call that religion? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Call that religion? ♪

♪ No, no. ♪

♪ Scandalize my name. ♪