Bobby Fieseler presents “How to Stop a Red Scare”: The Florida Johns Committee (1956 - 1965) and the Mississippi Redemption

Talk Abstract

The Florida Legislative Investigation Committee, or "Johns Committee," was a McCarthy-era inquisition group that held Florida citizens ransom for nine years (1956 - 1965) through its power to label any threat to the southern "way of life" (NAACP leaders, closeted queer teachers, etc.) as Communists, perverts and enemies of the people. Brought down in the 1960s through the legal challenges of Black civil rights and QPOC leaders, as detailed in American Scare: Florida's Hidden Cold War on Black and Queer Lives, the Johns Committee receded from public memory when records were sealed by perpetrators, and thus was history censored for decades... Until, that is, until the State of Mississippi agreed to release its own McCarthy-era records in full. By comparing and cross-referencing these data-sets of oppression, a riveting picture emerges of how ordinary citizens stopped a witch hunt--an empowering lesson for this moment. 

About Bobby Fieseler

Robert W. Fieseler writes about the Queer South. He is a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association “Journalist of the Year” and a recipient of the Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship. His debut book Tinderbox won seven awards, including the Edgar Award, and his writing has appeared in River Teeth, Salon, Slate and Southern Cultures, among others. Fieseler graduated co-valedictorian from the Columbia Journalism School and is pursuing a PhD in History at Tulane University as a Monroe Fellow. His second book, American Scare, was declared a "masterwork” by ALA Booklist and named a Stonewall Honor Book recipient. He lives with his husband on the gayest street in New Orleans.