Exhibition Opening Program: Hollywood on Trial: The Blacklist and the Red Scare

In October 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee turned its attention to Hollywood, calling actors, writers, directors, and producers to testify about alleged Communist influence in the film industry. What followed transformed careers, divided Hollywood, and ushered in an era in which political suspicion could determine who was allowed to work.

Join us for the opening program of Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare and a conversation exploring how the blacklist took hold, why Hollywood became a political battleground, and what happened to the people and industry caught in its path.

Thomas Doherty, cultural historian, Brandeis University professor, and author of Show Trial: Hollywood, HUAC, and the Birth of the Blacklist, joins Ellie Gettinger, who brings the exhibition’s curatorial and historical perspective. Film critic and cultural commentator Richard Roeper moderates a conversation examining the 1947 HUAC hearings, the Hollywood Ten, the forces that sustained the blacklist, and how this period reshaped American film and culture.

Presented in conjunction with Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare, on view at Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center November 1, 2026 through April 11, 2027.

Reservations are required. Free to the public.

Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare, an original exhibit created by and on loan from Jewish Museum Milwaukee 

Presenting Sponsors:

    Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust

    Abe & Ida Cooper Foundation

Supporting Sponsor:

    Women’s Board

Contributing Sponsor:

    Anixter and Silva Family Foundation

Additional Funder:

    Golder Family Foundation

Community Partner: Wayfarer Theaters