Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social
Studies and Research
Descriptive Summary
Title: Florence Muriel Sloat Papers: Blacklisted
Teachers in Los Angeles,
Date (inclusive): 1959-1991
Collection number: MSS 039
Creator:
Sloat, Florence Muriel,
1906-1995
Extent:
1 box
1/3 linear
foot
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
Abstract: Part of the larger Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles Collections, the Florence Muriel Sloat Papers contain the personal
papers of Sloat, a blacklisted Los Angeles teacher, including materials
relating to Sloat's suit against the House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC).
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Provenance
Florence Sloat donated the papers to the Library in the early
1990s.
Access
The collection is available for research only at the Library's
facility in Los Angeles. The Library is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday
through Saturday. Researchers are encouraged to call or email the Library
indicating the nature of their research query prior to making a visit.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Southern California Library
for Social Studies and Research. Researchers may make single copies of any
portion of the collection, but publication from the collection will be allowed
only with the express written permission of the Library's director. It is not
necessary to obtain written permission to quote from a collection. When the
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research gives permission
for publication, it is as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Florence Muriel Sloat Papers: Blacklisted
Teachers in Los Angeles, Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research, Los Angeles, California.
Biography
Blacklisting and the McCarthy Era
The individual collections within the Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles Collection share a common historical framework, the Anti-Communist
fervor of the Cold War Period and what is commonly referred to as the McCarthy
Era. After the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union
engaged in the ideological battle known as the Cold War. The identification of
communists and other radicals through the use of federal and state legislative
investigative committees and the punishment of those identified through firing
and blacklisting comprised a successful U.S. tactic. The investigations spread
from federal and other government employees to the entertainment industry, the
professions, labor unions, and the private sector. The major players in these
campaigns included, on the Federal level, Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). In California major players included
California State Assemblyman (later State Senator) Nelson S. Dilworth, and
State Senators Jack B. Tenney and Hugh M. Burns. All three served on the Joint
Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities in California (1945) and first
Tenney and later Burns chaired the [California] Senate Fact-Finding Committee
on Un-American Activities. Of special note are the Levering (1952) and Dilworth
(1953) Acts. The Levering Act made refusal to fully cooperate with any state
committee grounds for firing a teacher and the Dilworth Act gave local school
boards investigating authority and also required that all teachers sign an oath
denying any Communist affiliation.
Biography
Florence Muriel Sloat was a Los Angeles Unified School District high
school teacher who was suspended for five and half years (1962-1968) under the
Dilworth Act. She was active in the Los Angeles Teachers Union and the Teachers
Defense Committee.
Born in 1906 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents and raised in New
York City, Sloat studied art in New York and Paris and then taught art in the
New York City Schools. She had served as a test case in a New York City suit
against the school board over the mistreatment of substitute teachers before
arriving in Los Angeles in 1949. She taught at Ramona High School, working in a
program for emotionally disturbed girls. She was twice subpoenaed by the House
Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and called before a Dilworth Committee
in 1959. An injunction suit was filed in her name by the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) against HUAC preventing the release of the names of 69
subpoenaed teachers. The subpoenas were then cancelled. Three years later
(1962) she was suspended from her position at Ramona High School. She again
filed suit and was reinstated with back pay in 1968. A.L. Wirin, Fred Okrand,
and John McTernan served as attorneys in her cases. She retired from teaching
in 1972 at the age of sixty-five.
Later in her life she was active in Women's League for Peace and
Freedom (WILPF) and senior citizens' organizations. Sloat died in 1995.
Scope and Content
This collection contains correspondence, legal documents, clippings,
and other documents pertaining to Sloat's appearance before HUAC, suit against
HUAC, suspension from teaching and suit against the Los Angeles Board of
Education. The majority of the collection consists of copies of legal documents
and resolutions sent by a variety of teachers' organizations, labor unions and
democratic clubs. Also included is correspondence with lawyer John McTernan and
the ACLU. Of special note are a series of sketches or cartoons drawn by
Florence Sloat on the harassment of teachers, and an article on the McCarthy
era by Sloat's niece, Elizabeth Leitman.
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically.
Related Material at the Southern California Library for Social
Studies and Research
Title: Frances Robman Eisenberg: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1928-1995
Physical Description:
4 boxes and 1 oversize box
Title: Abraham Minkus Papers: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1945-1983
Physical Description:
4 boxes
Title: Thomas Fagan Collection (Interviews): Blacklisted Teachers
in Los Angeles,
Date: 1989-1990
Physical Description:
3 folders, 5 audio cassettes
Title: Greg Goldin Collection (Interviews): Blacklisted Teachers
in Los Angeles,
Date: 1977
Physical Description:
1 box, 15 audio cassettes
Title: Ellen Chase Verdries Collection (Interviews/Paper):
Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
Date: 1992-1996
Physical Description:
1 (half) box
Title: Jean Benson Wilkinson Papers: Blacklisted Teachers in Los
Angeles,
Date: 1953-1955
Physical Description:
1 folder
Title: Los Angeles Teachers Union Collection,
Date: 1933-1982
Physical Description:
2 boxes
Title: Dorothy Doyle Collection (Interviews): Blacklisted
Teachers In Los Angeles,
Date: 1986
Physical Description:
1 audio tape
Title: Clipping Collection: Blacklisted Teachers in Los Angeles,
Date: 1967-1982
Physical Description:
1 folder