The Photo League was a cooperative of photographers in New York who banded together around a range of common social and creative causes. Founded in 1936, the League included some of the most noted American photographers of the mid-20th century among its members. It ceased operations in 1951 following its placement in 1947 on the U.S. Department of Justice blacklist with accusations that it was a communist, anti-American organization.
25-829: The League's origins traced back to a project of the Workers International Relief (WIR), a Communist association based in Berlin. In 1930, the WIR established the Workers Camera League in New York City, which soon came to be known as the Film and Photo League . Its goals were to "struggle against and expose reactionary film; to produce documentary films reflecting the lives and struggles of the American workers; and to spread and popularize
50-656: A 1676 history of the events leading up to the Restoration, James Heath (a supporter of Charles II) alleged that Parliament had passed an Act requiring the sale of estates, "And into this black list the Earl of Derby was now put, and other unfortunate Royalists ". Edward Gibbon wrote in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776) of Andronicus that "His memory
75-670: Is synonymous with a list of banned persons or organizations, and is the opposite of a whitelist . The English dramatist Philip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedy The Unnatural Combat . After the restoration of the English monarchy brought Charles II of England to the throne in 1660, a list of regicides named those to be punished for the execution of his father . The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled him to vote". In
100-406: Is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list ; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considered to have done something wrong, or they are considered to be untrustworthy. As a verb , blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list. A blacklist
125-828: The Hollywood blacklist . Since then, lawsuits for unfair dismissal have led to blacklisting being covert or informal, but it remains common. In 1981 following the PATCO workers' refusal to return to work, the Reagan administration fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order, and banned them from federal service for life. The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist instituted in 1947 to block screenwriters and other Hollywood professionals who were purported to have Communist sympathies from obtaining employment. It started by listing 151 entertainment industry professionals and lasted until 1960 when it
150-525: The Industrial Commission stated "There was no doubt in the minds of workingmen of the existence of the blacklisting system, though it was practically impossible to obtain evidence of it." It cited a news report that in 1895 a former conductor on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad committed suicide, having been out of work ever since a strike: "Wherever he went, the blacklist was ahead of him". Though
175-481: The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 outlawed punitive blacklists against employees who supported trade unions or criticised their employers, the practice continued in common use. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 made amendments which sustained blacklisting by affirming the right of employers to be anti-union , and by requiring trade union leaders to make loyalty oaths which had the same effect as
200-742: The Harlem Document Group of the League and a New York Times photographer); Dan Weiner ; Bill Witt; Martin Elkort ; Lou Bernstein ; Sy Kattelson ; Louis Stettner ; and Lisette Model . In the early 1940s, the list of notable photographers who were active in the League or supported their activities also included Margaret Bourke-White , W. Eugene Smith , Helen Levitt , FSA photographer Arthur Rothstein , Beaumont Newhall , Nancy Newhall , Richard Avedon , Weegee , Robert Frank , Harold Feinstein , Ansel Adams , Edward Weston and Minor White . The League
225-410: The League as early as 1936, was Photo Notes editor and board chair of the League's school. Sonia Handelman Meyer was both photographer and secretary, the league's only paid position. Many of the members who joined before the end of World War II were first-generation Americans who strongly believed in progressive political and social causes. Few were aware of the political origins of the movement of
250-694: The Photo League appeared on the Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) published on March 20, 1948, in the Federal Register . At first the League fought back and mounted an impressive This Is the Photo League exhibition in 1948, but after its member and long-time FBI informer Angela Calomiris had testified in May 1949 that the League was a front organization for the Communist Party ,
275-430: The Photo League was finished. Recruitment dried up and old members left, including one of its founders and former president, Paul Strand , as well as Louis Stettner. The League disbanded in 1951. After the League's demise, and with the return of more women to domestic roles in the postwar era, the careers of many promising women artists, such as Sonia Handelman Meyer and Rae Russel , did not continue. The Photo League
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#1732869233781300-549: The communist "Workers as Photographers" ( Arbeiterfotografen ) in Berlin. This had in fact little to do with what the organization did as it evolved, but helped its downfall after the war, when it was accused by the FBI of being communist, subversive and anti-American. In December 1947, the Photo League was formally declared a subversive organization and placed on a U.S. Department of Justice blacklist of subversive organizations by Attorney General Tom C. Clark . Following this announcement,
325-535: The great artistic and revolutionary Soviet productions". In 1934, the still photographers and the filmmakers in the League began having differences of opinion over social and production interests, and by 1936 they had formed separate groups. Paul Strand and Ralph Steiner established Frontier Films, to continue promoting the original goals, while Strand and Berenice Abbott renamed the original group "The Photo League". The two organizations remained friendly, with members of each group often participating in activities of
350-567: The library of documentaries dedicated to remembering the cultural work of the old left." ( Source : The Jewish Museum New York) Workers International Relief Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 828310308 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 08:33:53 GMT Blacklist Blacklisting
375-532: The members of the League were co-founders Sol Libsohn and Sid Grossman (director of the Photo League School); Morris Engel (from 1936); Arthur Leipzig (from 1942); Ruth Orkin , Jerome Liebling , and Lester Talkington (all from 1947); Walter Rosenblum (editor of the Photo League Photo Notes ); Eliot Elisofon (a Life magazine photographer); Aaron Siskind ; Jack Manning (a member of
400-426: The other. The goal of the newly reformed Photo League was to "put the camera back into the hands of honest photographers who ... use it to photograph America". The League quickly became active in the new field of socially conscious photography. Unlike other photography organizations, it did not espouse a particular visual style but instead concentrated on "integrating formal elements of design and visual aesthetics with
425-598: The petition to recall President Hugo Chávez , together with their national identity card numbers ( cédula ). The list "made sectarianism official", and Venezuelans who signed against Chávez were denied jobs, benefits, and documents, and often subjected to harassment. Once the list was posted, Chávez, on a Venezolana de Televisión broadcast, encouraged use of the website to "verify illicit use of national identity cards". Roger Capella, Minister of Health declared that "those who signed against President Chávez would be fired because they are committing an act of terrorism". There
450-490: The powerful and sympathetic evidence of the human condition". It also offered basic and advanced classes in photography when there were few such courses in colleges or trade schools. A newsletter, Photo Notes , was printed irregularly, depending upon who was available to do the work and if they could afford the printing costs. More than anything else, though, the League was a gathering place for photographers to share and experience their common artistic and social interests. Among
475-496: Was a public outcry, in particular by the organization Súmate , and because of reports that people who worked for the government were fired, denied work, or denied issuance of official documents because of their appearance on the list. In July 2004, access to the database under management of Comando Maisanta was granted to members of the "Batallones Bolivarianos de Internet (BBI)" (Internet Bolivarian Battalions), which previously had to register on Tascón's website to gain access under
500-771: Was due to his volunteering in this cause and his beliefs. During World War I , the British government adopted a "blacklist" based on an Order in Council of 23 December 1915, prohibiting British subjects from trade with specified firms and individuals in neutral countries; the lists were published in the London Gazette . In the summer of 1940, the SS printed a secret list called Sonderfahndungsliste G.B. ("Special Search List Great Britain ") as part of Nazi Germany 's preparations for invasion code-named Operation Sea Lion – when this booklet
525-562: Was effectively broken by the acknowledgement that blacklisted professionals had been working under assumed names for many years. At least one Scottish volunteer ( George Drever ) in the International Brigades who went to Spain to fight Franco 's fascists and who was also well known in the British Communist Party in the 1930s was informed by the police Special Branch that his failure to progress in military or career
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#1732869233781550-618: Was found after the war, it was commonly called the Black Book and described as a blacklist. In 1907, the Transvaal Medical Union in South Africa blacklisted patients if they could not pay cash in advance. There was a physical list kept by the community of physicians . After the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum , ruling party deputy Luis Tascón published on his website a database of more than 2,400,000 Venezuelans who had signed
575-422: Was stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes". The first published reference to blacklisting of an employee dates from 1774. This became a significant employment issue in American mining towns and company towns , where blacklisting could mean a complete loss of livelihood for workers who went on strike. The 1901 Report of
600-518: Was the caretaker of the Lewis Hine Memorial Collection, which Hine's son had given the League in recognition of its role in fostering social activism through photography as his father had done. Unusually for artist groups at the time, about one third of League members and participants were women and they served in visible leadership roles such as secretary, treasurer, vice president, and president. For example, Lucy Ashjian , who joined
625-523: Was the subject of a 2012 documentary film: Ordinary Miracles: The Photo League's New York by Daniel Allentuck and Nina Rosenblum . The film traces the rise and demise of the Photo League between 1936 and 1951, and includes interviews with surviving members and a soundtrack including Woody Guthrie , the Andrews Sisters , and the Mills Brothers . Cineaste Magazine calls the film a "fine addition to
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