Voices Against Injustice: Two Views on Race and Rights in Cold War America

Primary Source Analysis Worksheet — Paul Robeson’s HUAC Testimony (1956) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Background

Source 1: In 1956, singer, actor, and civil rights activist Paul Robeson appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), which was investigating alleged Communist influence in American life. Robeson, who had long criticized U.S. racism and supported African independence movements, refused to answer questions about his political beliefs and invoked the Fifth Amendment.

Source 2: In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under the law, and overturning the “separate but equal” doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Part A: Analyzing the Robeson Testimony

10 points

1. According to the transcript, what reasons does Robeson give for why he believes he was called before the Committee? (2 pts)

2. Robeson repeatedly refuses to give a simple “yes” or “no” answer about Communist Party membership. What strategy is he using, and why might he have chosen it? (2 pts)

3. Robeson says he “felt for the first time like a full human being” while in Russia. What does this statement suggest about his experience of race in the United States? (2 pts)

4. How does Robeson connect his personal family history (his father’s enslavement, his ancestors baking bread for Washington’s troops) to his argument about his right to stay in the United States? (2 pts)

5. Identify one specific line from the testimony that you think best captures Robeson’s attitude toward the Committee. Explain why you chose it. (2 pts)

Part B: Analyzing Brown v. Board of Education

10 points

6. According to the Court, why couldn’t the history of the Fourteenth Amendment settle the question of school segregation? (2 pts)

7. What reasoning does the Court give for concluding that segregated schools cannot be made “equal,” even when buildings, curricula, and teacher salaries are the same? (2 pts)

8. What role does the finding from the Kansas case (quoted in the opinion) play in the Court’s decision? What kind of evidence is it using? (2 pts)

9. What does the Court decide about the “separate but equal” doctrine from Plessy v. Ferguson? (2 pts)

10. Why does the Court say education is “perhaps the most important function of state and local governments”? How does this claim support its ruling? (2 pts)

Part C: Comparing the Two Sources

12 points

11. Both sources address racial inequality in the 1950s, but they come from very different settings (a congressional hearing vs. a Supreme Court opinion) and take very different forms (a confrontational exchange vs. a formal legal ruling). How does the format of each source shape the way its argument is made? (3 pts)

12. Robeson speaks personally and emotionally about his own experience, while the Brown opinion speaks in general, impersonal legal terms about “the plaintiffs” and “the minority group.” What are the strengths and limitations of each approach for addressing racial injustice? (3 pts)

13. In what ways do these two sources agree about the effects of racism on Black Americans in the 1950s? Cite specific evidence from each. (3 pts)

14. Robeson accuses the Committee of un-American, “neo-Fascist” behavior, while the Court frames its ruling as an application of constitutional principle. What does each source suggest about who gets to define what is “American” or constitutional in this period? (3 pts)

Part D: Reflection

8 points

15. Both Paul Robeson and the Supreme Court challenged forms of racial inequality in the mid-1950s, but through very different means — Robeson through public defiance and protest, the Court through law. In a well-developed paragraph (5–7 sentences), discuss which approach you think was more effective for changing American society in this period, and why. Support your answer with evidence from both documents. (8 pts)