One of the worst things you could be during the Cold War in 1950s America was a Communist. At least that was the opinion of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).

In a bid to rid the country of this scourge, names were put on the Hollywood Blacklist. As actors, directors and screenwriters were called before the HUAC, lives were ruined and those on the list lost their jobs. The Hollywood Ten were a group of well-known Hollywood figures who fought back, claiming first amendment rights.

As Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten said, “If a man is a Communist and denies his affiliation before the committee, he has committed perjury and will go to jail. If he answers affirmatively, the second question put to him will be, ‘Who else?'”

Read this and discover a dark time in American history.