Remembering the conversation with scibe, I sit quietly, thinking of the things that happened to scibe, the things that happened to Sid and I -- after we were married, after Sid began to put together this show.

Decide to take another look at the painting of Pete Seeger.

Some of the text from Seeger's House Un-American Activities Committee testimony are on the wall beneath the painting:

"...I am proud that I have sung for Americans of every political persuasion, and I have never refused to sing for anybody because I disagreed with their political opinion, and I am proud of the fact that my songs seem to cut across and find perhaps a unifying thing, basic humanity, and that is why I would love to be able to tell you about these songs, because I feel that you would agree with me more, sir. I know many beautiful songs from your home county, Carbon, and Monroe, and I hitchhiked through there and stayed in the homes of miners."

and the response from HUAC general counsel Frank Tavenner:

"My question was whether or not you sang at these functions of the Communist Party. You have answered it inferentially, and if I understand your answer, you are saying you did."

Ten writers were sent to prison by Congress. They were Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo.

In the artist's studio, there was another painting that I considered. It was Walt Disney attacking union members to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

But I choose Pete Seeger because there are so many dark paintings in this show. I wanted some that found heroism in difficult times.

I guess I might also have been influenced by the difficulties one faces when confronting Walt Disney. The contrast between his film making and some of the things he did. I am not sure whether or not I made the right decision. The entire exhibition has been very difficult to put together.

While I was working on this section of the exhibition, I realized that the role of the studios in the blacklisting era is often obscured. I think it is important to understand that the HUAC only set the stage. It was the major studios who enforced the blacklist.

At that time, they were the ones who did more than not stand up for freedom of speech, the ones who actually ruined people's careers by firing them for political beliefs. Instead of joining together to oppose the HUAC attack on American freedoms, the heads of Studios issued the cowardly and self-serving Waldorf Statement.