This collection includes rare films
which document the socio-political history of 20th
century America. There is powerful footage of the hysteria
whipped up by US Cold War propaganda. In particular
the HUAC hearings set up by Senator Joseph McCarthy
in the early 1950s; the Hollywood Ten; the trial and
executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953; the
Civil Rights movement of the early 1960s; the rise
of student activism; and the counter-cultural protest
movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. There is
footage featuring Angela Davis, Stokeley Carmichael
and other luminaries of this period.
Angela Davis
From the late 1930s and early 1940s we have unique
footage of marches on the streets of New York City
with crowds carrying massive trade union and communist
party banners. Also a documentary featuring the 1939/40 World's Fair. in which
there are stunning shots of the Soviet Pavilion, with all the communist iconography
proudly displayed.
In addition to all of this there is lots of other material of a non-political
nature - see also other archive entries eg MUSIC and COUNTER-CULTURE.