Demetria Royals

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

A look at the confluence of the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and blacklists with the post-war activism by African Americans seeking more and better roles on radio, television, and stage. It begins in Harlem, measures the impact of Paul Robeson and the campaign to bring him down, looks at the role of HUAC, J. Edgar Hoover and of journalists such as Ed Sullivan, and ends with a tribute to Canada Lee. Throughout are interviews with men and women who were there, including Dick Campbell of the Rose McLendon Players and Fredrick O'Neal of the American Negro Theatre. In the 1940s and 1950s, anti-Communism was one more tool to maintain Jim Crow and to keep down African-Americans.

MaMa's Pushcart

With virtually no financial resources, Ellen Stewart created the La Mama theater in New York in 1961, where writers and actors such as Sam Shepard, Elizabeth Swados, and Harvey Fierstein found both encouragement and a home for their work. Includes footage from the early days, interviews and brief excerpts from some of the theater works. Stewart also talks about her experiences as a "colored" working at Saks Fifth Avenue between 1950 and 1957