Red Networks: Women Writers and the Blacklist in Television

Submitted by jmumbey on Mon, 02/22/2010 - 12:22pm
Member Organization: 
Center for the Study of Women in Society
Date/Time: 
03/13/2010

Carole Stabile, Director, Center for the Study of Women in Society; Professor, English and School of Journalism and Communication, will talk about the blacklisting of women television writers during the anti-communist crusade at this CSWS “Road Scholars” presentation.

In June 1950, a group calling itself American Business Consultants published Red Channels: A Report on Communist Influence in Broadcasting, a publication that came to be known as the “bible” of the blacklist. Although broadcasting as an industry was largely male-dominated, over 30 percent of those named in Red Channels were women. In the months that followed, these women, who held diverse political perspectives, found their lives and livelihoods jeopardized by the blacklist and their voices decisively silenced. This presentation follows the lives of several women writers in particular, focusing on the work they had done prior to the blacklist and the creative potential that was stifled by the anti-communist crusade.
 
Location: Coos Bay Public Library