John Howard Lawson (September 25, 1894 – August 11, 1977) was an American writer, specializing in plays and screenplays. After starting with plays for theaters in New York City, he worked in Hollywood on writing for films. He was the first president of the Writers Guild of America, West after the Screen Writers Guild divided into two regional organizations. Lawson was one of the Hollywood Ten, the first group of American film industry professionals to be blacklisted by Congress during the 1950s McCarthy era's investigation of communist influence in Hollywood. He and his colleagues refused to testify; he was convicted of contempt of Congress and served a year in prison. He moved to Mexico, where he wrote some books about theater. After returning to the US, he taught at some universities in California. Using a pseudonym, he wrote the screenplay for Cry, the Beloved Country (1951), an adaptation of Alan Paton's novel about South Africa that was critical of apartheid. Life and career Early life and education John Howard Lawson was born on September 25, 1894, in New York City to parents originally named Simeon Levy and Belle Hart, who were Jewish. Before their first child was born, his father changed the family name from Levy to Lawson, joking that this was so that his son could "obtain reservations at expensive resort hotels". In the 1880s, Lawson's father was living in Mexico City, where he started a newspaper, the Mexican Financie. When John was five, his mother died. She had named her three children after people she admired: John Howard Lawson was named after prison reformer John Howard, his sister Adelaide Jaffery Lawson was named after a friend of hers who was active in social causes, and Wendell Holmes Lawson was named after reforming American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. As a successful businessman, Simeon sent his children to private schools. At age seven, John attended Elizabeth and Alexis Ferms' "Children's Playhouse" school, an experimental school for children. Later he and his siblings went to Halstead School in Yonkers, New York and then to Cutler School in New Rochelle, New York. In 1906, Simeon sent the three children on a tour of Europe, and seeing theatre was on the list of activities. John Howard took notes on the set designs, actors, and plays. In 1909, they were sent on a tour of the United States and Canada. After studying at