Jean Benson Wilkinson Papers Blacklisted Teachers In Los Angeles, 1953-1955
Processed by Julia Bazar
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
© 2000
6120 South Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Phone: (323) 759-6063
Fax: (323) 759-2252
Email: archives@socallib.org
URL: http://www.socallib.org/
Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. All
rights reserved.
Register of the Jean Benson Wilkinson Papers Blacklisted Teachers In Los Angeles, 1953-1955
Collection number: MSS 044
Southern California Library for Social Studies and ResearchLos Angeles, California
- Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research
- 6120 South Vermont Avenue
- Los Angeles, CA 90044
- Phone: (323) 759-6063
- Fax: (323) 759-2252
- Email: archives@socallib.org
- URL: http://www.socallib.org/
- Processed by:
- Julia Bazar
- Date Completed:
- Dec. 2000
- Encoded by:
- Julia Bazar
© 2000 Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research. All rights reserved.
Title: Jean Benson Wilkinson Papers Blacklisted
Teachers In Los Angeles,
Date (inclusive): 1953-1955
Collection number: MSS 044
Creator:
Wilkinson, Jean Benson
Extent:
1 folder
Repository:
Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research
Los Angeles, CA 90044
Abstract: Papers of Jean Benson Wilkinson, a blacklisted
Los Angeles teacher. One folder.
Language:
English.
Donated to the Library by Jean Benson Wilkinson, 1988.
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.
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.
[Identification of item], Jean Benson Wilkinson Papers Blacklisted
Teachers In Los Angeles, Southern California Library for Social Studies and
Research, Los Angeles, California.
Historical Context: 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.
Jean Benson Wilkinson was teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School
District and wife of Frank Wilkinson, an officer of the Los Angeles City
Housing Authority. Jean Wilkinson was dismissed as a teacher after refusing to
answer questions before a California State Burns Committee hearing which was
investigating her husband. In 1953, the Los Angeles City School Board sued for
her dismissal.
This collection consists of one folder containing correspondence,
legal brief, and statement by the Los Angeles Federation of Teachers pertaining
to the blacklisting of Jean Benson Wilkinson.
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