Paul Leroy Robeson, born on this day in 1898, was an American concert artist, actor, and communist activist who was blacklisted and denied the ability to travel by the U.S. government.

His political activities began while studying in London, where he became involved with unemployed workers and anti-imperialist student activists. Robeson also supported the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, was a committed anti-fascist, and a member of the Civil Rights Congress, an early civil rights organization listed as subversive by the U.S. Attorney General.

Due to Robeson's sympathies for the Soviet Union, leftist politics, and his criticism of the United States government, he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era.

"As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will always speak for peace, and no one can silence me in this."

- Paul Robeson