Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling ablacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making thelist; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considered to have done something wrong, or they are considered to be untrustworthy. As averb, blacklist can mean to put an individual or entity on such a list.[1] A blacklist is synonymous with a list of banned persons or organizations, and is the opposite of awhitelist.
The English dramatistPhilip Massinger used the phrase "black list" in his 1639 tragedyThe Unnatural Combat.[2]
After therestoration of the English monarchy broughtCharles II of England to the throne in 1660, alist of regicides named those to be punished for theexecution of his father.[3] The state papers of Charles II say "If any innocent soul be found in this black list, let him not be offended at me, but consider whether some mistaken principle or interest may not have misled him to vote".[4] In a 1676 history of the events leading up to the Restoration,James Heath (a supporter of Charles II) alleged thatParliament had passed an Act requiring the sale of estates, "And into this black list theEarl of Derby was now put, and other unfortunateRoyalists".[5]
Edward Gibbon wrote inThe History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776) ofAndronicus that "His memory was stored with a black list of the enemies and rivals, who had traduced his merit, opposed his greatness, or insulted his misfortunes".[6]
 | This section maylendundue weight to examples that are cherry-picked instead of using reliable sources about blacklisting. Pleasehelp improve it by rewriting it tocreate a more balanced presentation. Discuss andresolve this issue before removing this message.(September 2025) |
The first published reference toblacklisting of an employee dates from 1774. This became a significant employment issue in Americanmining towns andcompany towns, where blacklisting could mean a complete loss of livelihood for workers who went on strike.[7] The 1901 Report of theIndustrial Commission stated "There was no doubt in the minds of workingmen of the existence of the blacklisting system, though it was practically impossible to obtain evidence of it." It cited a news report that in 1895 a formerconductor on theAtlantic and Pacific Railroad committed suicide, having been out of work ever since a strike: "Wherever he went, the blacklist was ahead of him".[8]
Though the USANational Labor Relations Act of 1935 outlawed punitive blacklists against employees who supportedtrade unions or criticised their employers, the practice continued in common use in the USA. TheTaft-Hartley Act of 1947 made amendments which sustained blacklisting by affirming the right of employers to beanti-union, and by requiringtrade union leaders to makeloyalty oaths which had the same effect as theHollywood blacklist. Since then, lawsuits forunfair dismissal have led to blacklisting being covert or informal, but it remains common.[7]
In 1981, following thePATCO workers' refusal to return to work, the Reagan administration fired the 11,345 striking air traffic controllers who had ignored the order,[9][10] and banned them from federal service for life.
TheHollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist instituted in 1947 to blockscreenwriters and other Hollywood professionals who were purported to haveCommunist sympathies from obtaining employment. It started by listing 151 entertainment industry professionals and lasted until 1960 when it was effectively broken by the acknowledgement that blacklisted professionals had been working under assumed names for many years.[11][12]
At least one Scottish volunteer (George Drever) in theInternational Brigades who went toSpain to fightFranco's fascists and who was also well known in theBritish Communist Party in the 1930s was informed by the policeSpecial Branch that his failure to progress in military or career was due to his volunteering in this cause and his beliefs.[13]
DuringWorld War I, the British government adopted a "blacklist" based on anOrder in Council of 23 December 1915, prohibiting British subjects from trade with specified firms and individuals in neutral countries; the lists were published in theLondon Gazette.[14][15][16]
In the summer of 1940, theSS printed a secret list calledSonderfahndungsliste G.B. ("Special Search ListGreat Britain") as part ofNazi Germany's preparations for invasion code-namedOperation Sea Lion. When this booklet was found after the war, it was commonly called theBlack Book and described as a blacklist.[17]
In 1907, the Transvaal Medical Union in South Africa blacklisted patients if they could not pay cash in advance.[18] There was a physical list kept by the community ofphysicians.[19]
After the2004 Venezuelan recall referendum, ruling party deputyLuis Tascón published on his website a database of more than 2,400,000 Venezuelans who had signed the petition to recall PresidentHugo Chávez, together with their national identity card numbers (cédula).[20][21] The list "madesectarianism official", and Venezuelans who signed against Chávez were denied jobs, benefits, and documents, and often subjected to harassment.[22] Once the list was posted, Chávez, on aVenezolana de Televisión broadcast, encouraged use of the website to "verify illicit use of national identity cards". Roger Capella, Minister of Health declared that "those who signed against President Chávez would be fired because they are committing an act of terrorism".[23] There was a public outcry, in particular by the organizationSúmate, and because of reports that people who worked for the government were fired, denied work, or denied issuance of official documents because of their appearance on the list.[24][25] In July 2004, access to the database under management ofComando Maisanta was granted to members of the "Batallones Bolivarianos de Internet (BBI)" (Internet Bolivarian Battalions), which previously had to register on Tascón's website to gain access under the strict requisite that they had not signed the petition for the referendum.[26]
Following theOctober 7 attacks, singers who posted their support for Israel on social media reportedly were blacklisted at venues where they typically performed.[27][28] A professional gamer was barred from a competition for similar reasons.[29] In Chicago, Jewish therapists who said they would treat a Zionist patient were added to a blacklist.[30] British sociologistDavid Hirsh noted that Zionist academics “have not been able to publish, people were not able to do the things that you need to do in order to build a career in academia”.[28] After having a scheduled lecture canceled, historian and sociologist Izabella Tabarovsky said that "as a former Soviet citizen she was 'deeply familiar' with this kind of silencing".[28]
In computing, a blacklist is anaccess control system that denies entry to a specific list (or a defined range) of users, programs, or network addresses.
In 2018, a medical journal commentary regardingpredatory publishing was published, arguing thatwhitelist,blacklist, among other terms, reinforce existing racial biases and should be avoided in medical literature.[31] The commentary gained public attention in Summer 2020 following theGeorge Floyd protests in the United States wherein a black man died in the custody of Minneapolis police officers, sparking protests against police brutality.[32][33][34]
The commentary cites examples of the use ofblack as a shorthand for disreputable sources and other negative judgements, andwhite for trustworthiness and safety. The article also notes the origins ofblacklist as a label for censure and punishment of workers involved in labor unions, and that early use of the term coincides with the rise ofslavery in the Americas, but does not claim its etymology as referring directly to skin color. However, the authors criticize the continued use ofblacklist and similar language as inappropriate and harmful due to the ubiquity ofwhite andblack as descriptors of racial groups in common parlance, arguing that this association results in use of this type of language perpetuates racism, regardless of its linguistic origin.[31]
Conflict around this issue often emerges in computing industries wherewhitelist andblacklist are prevalent (e.g. "IP whitelisting"[35]). Some companies,open-source communities, and software developers have chosen to deprecate use ofwhitelist andblacklist in favor of names which describe the purpose of those lists less ambiguously and are unlikely to come across to a reader as insensitive such asallow list anddeny list. AnIETF draft technical proposal[36] has been underway since 2018 presenting arguments for avoiding potentially exclusionary language in technical documentation and a standardized set of recommendations for their replacement. Before garnering wider public attention in 2020, similarly motivated changes have also been enacted in years prior to replace terminology such asmaster/slave with alternatives due to concerns over their potential role in workplace discrimination.[37]
Some critics of these terminology changes[who?] question the interpretation of the deprecated language as racial in nature due to the linguistic root ofblacklist as being most likely derived from the termblack book,[37][38] which originated in the 1400s as a reference to "a list of people who had committed crimes or fallen out of favor with leaders," popularized by King Henry VIII's literal use of a black book.[39] Others note the prevalence of positive and negative connotations towhite andblack in someBible translations into English, taking the position that this historical usage invalidates the claim of racial connotations in modern usage[40] because it predates the emergence of "Black" as a widespread word to refer to one's race as aperson of color in America during the 1960sBlack power movement.[41]
Might write me down in the black List of those That have nor Fire, nor Spirit of their own
