Salt of the Earth

A landmark of independent American cinema, Salt of the Earth was made by three blacklisted filmmakers — director Herbert J. Biberman, producer Paul Jarrico, and writer Michael Wilson — entirely outside the Hollywood studio system. Based on the 1951 Empire Zinc strike in Grant County, New Mexico, the film tells the story of Mexican-American miners and their wives fighting for equality. Mexican actress Rosaura Revueltas stars as Esperanza, the wife who emerges as a leader when the men are enjoined from picketing and the women take over the picket line. Many of the supporting roles were played by real miners and their families from Mine-Mill Local 890. The film was suppressed upon release, denounced as communist propaganda, and effectively banned from theaters. It was rediscovered decades later and is now recognized as a seminal work of social realism and one of the first American films to present a Mexican-American community from within. The producers placed the film in the public domain.