• DOI:10.1080/01439685.2013.764719
• Corpus ID: 14799209

Censorship In Black And White: The Burning Cross (1947), Band Of Angels (1957) And The Politics Of Film Censorship In The American South After World War II

@article{Ooten2013CensorshipIB,
  title={Censorship In Black And White: The Burning Cross (1947), Band Of Angels (1957) And The Politics Of Film Censorship In The American South After World War II},
  author={Melissa Ooten},
  journal={Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television},
  year={2013},
  volume={33},
  pages={77 - 98}
}

• Melissa Ooten
• Published 1 March 2013
• History
• Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

Following the end of World War II, the United States rose to prominent international status as its foreign policy coalesced around Cold War politics that focused not only upon external enemies abroad but also on internal ‘subversives’ at home. Fundamental principles of democracy came under attack as a variety of state-sponsored campaigns sought to eradicate Communists and their sympathizers as tensions with the Soviet Union grew. It was within this atmosphere that members of the US Congress’s House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) arrived in Los Angeles in 1947 to investigate potentially subversive Hollywood film-makers. While this trajectory dominates the narrative of post-war internal politics, it should be understood that while certain Hollywood film-makers and actors faced persecution, the movies themselves gained greater freedom of speech protections during this time period, and citizens increasingly questioned the validity of censorship boards—whether industry-sponsored (such as the Hays Code) or government-sponsored—to mediate what images could be contained through official channels of censorship. For African Americans, the post-World War II era brought more urgency to their increasing demands for equal rights. Veterans arrived home calling for ‘double victory,’ victory for America abroad and equal rights at home. Having fought to uphold American ideals of democracy, many had little patience when they arrived home to again be subjected to a myriad of laws and social customs that relegated them and their families to second-class citizenship. Race riots, for example, rocked cities across the nation during the war. The activist CORE