Frank Wilkinson
Encyclopedia
Frank Wilkinson was a civil liberties activist, Executive Director of the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation
and Executive Director of the First Amendment Foundation.
Wilkinson attended Beverly Hills High School
. He was a 1936 graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles
.
A lifelong progressive political activist, Wilkinson was caught up in the McCarthy Era when he defended a major public housing project, Elysian Park Heights, for the Chávez Ravine section of Los Angeles. Instead, Dodger Stadium eventually occupied the site. Wilkinson, in 1952, was the assistant director of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles
. Critics of the plan claimed that public housing was part of a socialist plot. Wilkinson, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
, cited the First Amendment as his reason for not answering: the Committee had no right to ask. Cited for contempt of Congress, Wilkinson, was fired from his job in connection with his unwillingness to affirm or deny his political party membership.
After his release, Wilkinson became a leading opponent of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and in 1960 helped form the National Committee to Abolish HUAC, which evolved into the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation.http://www.ncarl.org/history.html Because of his resistance to political repression, Wilkinson received the Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty; and the American Civil Liberties Union
Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, the Earl Warren
Civil Liberties Award, and the 1997 National Lawyers’ Guild Legal Worker of the Year.
National Committee Against Repressive Legislation
The Defending Dissent Foundation , previously known for many years as the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation and formed in 1960 as the National Committee to Abolish HUAC, is a national not-for-profit advocacy organization in the United States, dedicated to defending the right of...
and Executive Director of the First Amendment Foundation.
Wilkinson attended Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School is the only major public high school in Beverly Hills, California. Beverly is part of the Beverly Hills Unified School District and located on on the west side of Beverly Hills, at the...
. He was a 1936 graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
A lifelong progressive political activist, Wilkinson was caught up in the McCarthy Era when he defended a major public housing project, Elysian Park Heights, for the Chávez Ravine section of Los Angeles. Instead, Dodger Stadium eventually occupied the site. Wilkinson, in 1952, was the assistant director of the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles
Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles
The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles is the public housing agency for Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1938. There are more than 60 public housing locations in Los Angeles.-History:...
. Critics of the plan claimed that public housing was part of a socialist plot. Wilkinson, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
, cited the First Amendment as his reason for not answering: the Committee had no right to ask. Cited for contempt of Congress, Wilkinson, was fired from his job in connection with his unwillingness to affirm or deny his political party membership.
After his release, Wilkinson became a leading opponent of the House Un-American Activities Committee, and in 1960 helped form the National Committee to Abolish HUAC, which evolved into the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation.http://www.ncarl.org/history.html Because of his resistance to political repression, Wilkinson received the Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty; and the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate Award, the Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
Civil Liberties Award, and the 1997 National Lawyers’ Guild Legal Worker of the Year.
Sources
- Frank Wilkinson, "Revisiting the 'Mccarthy Era': Looking at Wilkinson v. United States in Light of Wilkinson v. Federal Bureau of Investigation", Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, Law Review, v. 32, n.2.http://llr.lls.edu/volumes/v33-issue2/wilkinson.pdf
- PBS: Chavez Ravine. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chavezravine/cr.html
- "Frank Wilkinson's Legacy", The NationThe NationThe Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
External links
Further reading
- Robert Sherrill (2005), First Amendment Felon: The Story of Frank Wilkinson, His 132,000-Page FBI File, and His Epic Fight for Civil Rights and Liberties. Nation Books. ISBN 9781560257790, ISBN 1560257792.