Useful Links
The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. By David K. Johnson
https://outhistory.org/items/show/1425
Cold War, Lavender Scare, and LGBTQ+ Activism
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cold-war-lavender-scare-and-lgbtq-activism.htm
These People Are Frightened to Death: Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html
The Lavender Scare is the first documentary film to tell the little-known story of an unrelenting campaign by the federal government to identify and fire all employees suspected of being homosexual.
https://www.thelavenderscare.com/
The Lavender Scare: Gay and Lesbian Life in Post-WWII America
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/lavender-scare-gay-and-lesbian-life-post-wwii-america
Lavender Scare: U.S. Fired 5,000 Gays in 1953 'Witch Hunt'
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/lavender-scare-us-fired-thousands-gays-infamous-chapter/story?id=15848947
https://outhistory.org/items/show/1425
Cold War, Lavender Scare, and LGBTQ+ Activism
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/cold-war-lavender-scare-and-lgbtq-activism.htm
These People Are Frightened to Death: Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2016/summer/lavender.html
The Lavender Scare is the first documentary film to tell the little-known story of an unrelenting campaign by the federal government to identify and fire all employees suspected of being homosexual.
https://www.thelavenderscare.com/
The Lavender Scare: Gay and Lesbian Life in Post-WWII America
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/video/lavender-scare-gay-and-lesbian-life-post-wwii-america
Lavender Scare: U.S. Fired 5,000 Gays in 1953 'Witch Hunt'
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/lavender-scare-us-fired-thousands-gays-infamous-chapter/story?id=15848947
Primary Sources
This page contains a selection of resources and suggested research strategies related to LGBTQIA+ government workers and the lavender scare. (primary sources, newspaper articles)
https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/subject/government-workers#s-lib-ctab-24125112-1
Executive Order 10450--Security requirements for Government employment
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html
Senator Hill Proposes Complete Inquiry Into Hiring of Undesirables
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1950-05-20/ed-1/seq-35/
Congressional Record volume 96 part 4 81st Congress 2nd Session March 29 -- April 24, 1950
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/gays-in-govt.html
https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/subject/government-workers#s-lib-ctab-24125112-1
Executive Order 10450--Security requirements for Government employment
https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html
Senator Hill Proposes Complete Inquiry Into Hiring of Undesirables
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1950-05-20/ed-1/seq-35/
Congressional Record volume 96 part 4 81st Congress 2nd Session March 29 -- April 24, 1950
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/gays-in-govt.html
Classroom Resources
Overview of the lavender scare, primary sources & multimedia sources
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.pbworks.com/w/page/124426519/The%20Lavender%20Scare
Learn about the Lavender Scare and its lasting impact on the LGBTQ community in this video from First Person: Classroom. Utilizing video, discussion questions, vocabulary terms, teaching tips, and primary source documents, students will analyze the impact presidential orders have had on the LGBTQ community over the past half century.
https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/fp19.lgbtq.lavender/lavender-scare/
This lesson was created in response to the newly adopted California History-Social Science Framework, and the passage of the FAIR Education Act. This lesson additionally responds to the California History-Social Science Framework’s emphasis on disciplinary inquiry and historical thinking. This lesson explores how the Lavender Scare served as a period of decline in rights for the LGBTQ community in the United States, in particular for individuals were working for the federal government. Additionally, this lesson explores the causes of that decline including the context of the era and the short and long-term consequences of the Lavender Scare to the LGBTQ community. Through the exploration of multiple primary and secondary sources, students are able to construct a historical narrative that demonstrates how conditions of the Cold War criminalized lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cH58S0hMuKseK3rm2jVyhobdvavDo1dl/view
LGBTQ+ history through primary sources
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15aPyD7wrF6ZeP62-Wk2f0XAfl1CKHXFJ/view
The Lavender Scare: A lesson plan developed by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Define the Lavender Scare and its connection to the Red Scare
- Develop objective awareness - Understand the effect of the event on minority populations
- Understand the role the event had on Foreign Service, American government, and diplomacy
- Comprehend and analyze primary sources
https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/The-Lavender-Scare-lesson-plan-2.pdf
http://resourcesforhistoryteachers.pbworks.com/w/page/124426519/The%20Lavender%20Scare
Learn about the Lavender Scare and its lasting impact on the LGBTQ community in this video from First Person: Classroom. Utilizing video, discussion questions, vocabulary terms, teaching tips, and primary source documents, students will analyze the impact presidential orders have had on the LGBTQ community over the past half century.
https://ny.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/fp19.lgbtq.lavender/lavender-scare/
This lesson was created in response to the newly adopted California History-Social Science Framework, and the passage of the FAIR Education Act. This lesson additionally responds to the California History-Social Science Framework’s emphasis on disciplinary inquiry and historical thinking. This lesson explores how the Lavender Scare served as a period of decline in rights for the LGBTQ community in the United States, in particular for individuals were working for the federal government. Additionally, this lesson explores the causes of that decline including the context of the era and the short and long-term consequences of the Lavender Scare to the LGBTQ community. Through the exploration of multiple primary and secondary sources, students are able to construct a historical narrative that demonstrates how conditions of the Cold War criminalized lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cH58S0hMuKseK3rm2jVyhobdvavDo1dl/view
LGBTQ+ history through primary sources
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15aPyD7wrF6ZeP62-Wk2f0XAfl1CKHXFJ/view
The Lavender Scare: A lesson plan developed by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training and brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Define the Lavender Scare and its connection to the Red Scare
- Develop objective awareness - Understand the effect of the event on minority populations
- Understand the role the event had on Foreign Service, American government, and diplomacy
- Comprehend and analyze primary sources
https://www.adst.org/OH%20TOCs/The-Lavender-Scare-lesson-plan-2.pdf