Chapter 19 Discussion

2. Describe the impact of the Cold War on the movement for black civil rights. In what ways did the Cold War enhance that movement? In what ways did the Cold War hamper the movement? On balance, was the Cold War good or bad for the civil rights movement? The Cold War did both harm and good for the black civil rights movement. The Council of African Affairs (CAA) was founded in 1937; one of its main purposes being to provide the American public with educational information about Africa. Black communities heavily supported the CAA and drew large rallies of support for its initiatives. The Cold War led to the government targeting the CAA as a “communist-influenced organization,” and the dissolution of similar groups such as the National Negro Congress and the Civil Rights Congress (Franklin, 2010, p.488). As African Americans united under an anti-imperialism motto, both antiracist and anticolonial movements by African American leftists were attacked by government, and other, bodies. The Cold War did enhance the movement by bringing international attention to the events occurring in the United States. Where the United States voted against the South Africa Resolution - requiring South Africa to deliver a report to the UN of steps taken to rectify discrimination within its country - most other nations voted for the movement, strengthening the impact of its passing. African American lawyer Charles H. Houston later argued to the UN that the level of widespread prejudice and discrimination within the United States was too an international issue that fell under the UN’s authority. “A national policy of the United States which permits disfranchisement in the South is just as much an international issue as elections in Poland or the denial of democratic rights in Franco’s Spain” (Franklin, 2010, p.491). The impact of Houston’s UN address was intensified since months prior, Soviet countries received transmissions of a vicious lynching in the United States where the confessed [white] murderers were all acquitted of the crime. The United States looked to control and curb this international view of being heavily racist through a variety of means. Besides attacking African American movements, they revoked and denied the passports of prominent African American figures (i.e. W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson). Despite these tactics, the United States’ international image of governmental failings regarding desegregation was immense. These negative perceptions, combined with the war against communism, helped push the U.S. to work towards ending segregation; thus, bolstering the civil rights movement. President Truman initiated policies to combat and end segregation, the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision was made, Martin Luther King Jr, Rosa Parks, and other prominent figures became notable leaders of civil rights movements, and other influence moments occurred - all which grew due to the Cold War and international pressure. The United States, advocating democracy and integration abroad, was heavily criticized for its lack of domestic effort surrounding the same topic(s). The civil rights movement seemed to benefit more from the Cold War’s results than it did suffer.