Pittsburgh’s Forgotten Tragedy: The Dorothy Albert Case

ABSTRACT Dorothy Albert was a teacher at Taylor Allderdice High School in Pittsburgh. Her life was turned upside down and her career ruined when she was named as communist and a member of a Communist Front organization, the Civil Rights Congress, by former paid informant Matt Cvetic to the House Un-American Activities Committee in early 1950. While other stories of people so accused are ones of heartache and ultimate success, Albert’s was one of failure due to a combination of prejudice, fear, and mendacity. Ironically, Albert admitted membership in the Civil Rights Congress, but denied she was a communist. Moreover, her accuser, Cvetic, had a tortured relationship with reality and the truth. Yet on his say-so, she was run out of her profession, with Pittsburgh turning its back on her.