McCarthyism purged radical alternatives, leaving black liberalism unchallenged

Evidence

In January of 1948, the U.S. attorney general, Tom Clark, made clear the stakes: “Those who do not believe in the ideology of the United States shall not be allowed to stay in the United States.” McCarthyism led to the persecution of figures like Du Bois and Robeson. Du Bois was arrested as “an agent of a foreign principal” in February of 1951. At the age of 82, he was handcuffed and fingerprinted. The national media made him out to be a common criminal. Robeson lost his ability to travel abroad and to perform. He died broken and alone. The upshot was that any hint of communism or socialism shaping black politics had to be purged, and the radical elements of black political life marginalized. Black liberalism had to stand alone. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 406

Categorization

• QUESTION: The claim that Robeson ‘died broken and alone’ is a striking character judgment worth probing against biographical sources.