Workers Confront the Red Scare Movement in 1950’s Baltimore

Exploring Baltimore’s labor history

Join Bill Barry, retired CCBC professor and former director of Labor Studies, for a labor history lecture exploring McCarthyism, the Red Scare and their impact on workers in Baltimore County. The lecture complements The Briar Club by Kate Quinn, this year’s Community Book Connection selection.

In the 1950s, the fearful social and political climate led by U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy was not only experienced as a remote and nationalized media spectacle. In Baltimore County, Maryland, the Red Scare movement also provoked threats, intimidation, and violence against employees of Bethlehem Steel who fought for labor rights and union representation. Workers and their families endured accusations of anti American activity—and dealt with retaliation that carried serious legal and social consequences.

Readers of Kate Quinn’s The Briar Club encounter a fictionalized interpretation of this era, but this lecture by Bill Barry invites audiences to explore the real history behind McCarthyism and its impact on local communities such as Sparrows Point. By connecting literature with lived experience, participants gain a deeper understanding of the injustices and human cost of the Red Scare in Maryland.

Light refreshments will be available.

Unable to attend in person? Join us online via Teams.