Salt of the Earth(1954)
dir. Herbert J. Biberman
The labor film blacklisted filmmakers made anyway.
Where to watch: Streaming on KanopyLetterboxd ↗
A 1950 New Mexico zinc miners' strike, reenacted by the real Mexican-American families who lived it, made by a blacklisted writer, producer, and director during the height of the Red Scare.
Why it’s here
Made by three men the Hollywood blacklist had already ended the careers of, using real miners and their families as the cast — the labor politics on screen and the circumstances of the film's own making are the same argument, not two separate things.
Where This Film Lives
- Setting
- North America
- Topics
- mccarthyism
Read Alongside
Books that share a topic, theme, or setting with this film.
Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right
Matthew Dallek
The fringe that ate the Republican Party.
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Brecht on Theatre
Bertolt Brecht
He made theatre political. On purpose. Here's how and why.
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Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under Attack
Richard Ovenden
Knowledge was always the target.
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Home to Stay!: The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories
Ray Bradbury
The stories Fredric Wertham needed you not to read.
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I Go Pogo
Walt Kelly
The strip that put a bag on McCarthy's head.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Malinda Lo
1954. Chinatown. A lesbian bar. Everything to lose.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
The Deviant's War
Eric Cervini
The government fired him for being gay. He sued the government.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST
Working
Studs Terkel
Americans talk about their jobs. All of them. No filter.
✦ READ – REFLECT → RESIST