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Pioneering Women of Color: TV Women Blacklisted

Show Notes:

This 4-episode series examines anti-communism/McCarthyism blacklisting’s impact on the careers of women who likely would have changed the look, depth, and sound of TV.
Cynthia and author/scholar, Dr. Charlene Regester of the University of North Carolina, have a frank conversation about how racism, stereotyped roles, and Jim Crow laws delayed TV’s depiction of African American life by more than a decade. This adds to the story of a previous podcast episode about TV’s Single Women and how even in the 1980s, a TV series cast a black woman as a household domestic.
Resources Mentioned
  • Charlene Regester (2010) African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility 1900-1960
  • North Carolina PBS featuring Dr. Charlene Regester discussing her book
  • Carol Stabile (2018) The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist
  • James Gavin (2010) Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne
  • Advanced TV Herstory TV’s Single Woman Caregivers & Gimme a Break
  • YouTube: The Beulah Show (feat. Ethel Waters)
  • Charlene Regester (2010) African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility 1900-1960 https://iupress.org/9780253221926/african-american-actresses/

Ancillary Episodes

Pioneering TV Women of Color: TV Women Blacklisted (ep 5.13)

Different 50s TV: TV Women Blacklisted (ep 5.12)

Calculated Efforts to Preserve Power: TV Women Blacklisted (ep 5.11)

Trumped Up Charges & Lists: TV Women Blacklisted (ep 5.1)