A Red Family: Junius, Gladys, and Barbara ScalesOne of the few publicly known communists in the South, Junius Scales organized textile workers, fought segregation, and was the only American to be imprisoned under the membership clause of the Smith Act during the McCarthy years. This compact collective memoir, built on three interconnected oral histories and including a historical essay by Gail O'Brien, covers Scales's organizing activities and work against racism in the South, his progressive disillusionment with Party bureaucracy and dogmatic rigidity, his persecution and imprisonment, as well as his family's radicalism and response to FBI hounding and blacklisting. Through the distinct perspectives of Junius, his wife Gladys, and his daughter Barbara, this book deepens and personalizes the story of American radicalism. Conversational, intimate, and exceptionally accessible, A Red Family offers a unique look at the American communist experience from the inside out. |
Contents
Junius | 1 |
Gladys | 13 |
Junius | 20 |
Gladys | 36 |
Junius | 41 |
Gladys | 58 |
Junius | 68 |
Gladys | 76 |
Barbara | 110 |
Junius | 114 |
Gladys | 118 |
Barbara | 119 |
Junius | 122 |
Gladys | 128 |
Barbara | 132 |
Barbara Scales | 141 |
Illustrations follow page 82 | 82 |
Junius | 83 |
Barbara | 92 |
Gladys | 106 |
Gail Williams OBrien | 159 |
Notes | 179 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alfred Moore Scales anti-Communism Barbara Scales collection Bart became better brother Carrboro Chapel Hill Communism Communist Party couldn’t couple course CPUSA daddy decided democratic everything father feel felt fight friends G.I. Bill Gail Williams girl Gladys’s gotten Greensboro guess happened hell industry Junie Junie’s Junius and Gladys Junius Scales Junius’s kids kind knew learned lived look loved McCarthyism meeting Mickey Friedman mill mother moved movement Negro never Nickson Norman Thomas North Carolina ofthe organization parents Party’s political pretty prison radical Red Family remember seemed sense sister Smith Act social South southern Soviet Union spent Stalin started stay story strike student summer talk Telford Taylor tell textile Theodore Draper there’s thing thought told took tremendous trial trying wanted wasn’t week what’s whole Winston-Salem workers York