Mary Dudziak's Cold War Civil Rights Essay

Part II is very interesting during chapter 6 when Dower presents studies conducted by psychologists and other scientists that suggest that the Japanese are mentally inferior to Americans. “By 1944, a considerable number of social and behavioral scientists had thus turned their attention to Japan…they agreed that…immaturity was a critical concept in understanding Japanese behavior.”(Page 131) In the last chapter of Part II dower alludes to the history of racism in America. The Chapter is called “Yellow, Red, and Black Men” which refers to the different groups that the United States oppressed because of the color of their skin. In this chapter Dower relates the racial topic from chapter 6 to the different races oppressed by the United States. In Part II dower uses the hypocrisy of the United States to point out that the United States is not as “perfect” as they make themselves appear.

The autobiography illustrates personal experiences of discrimination and prejudice while also reporting the political occurrences during the United States’ involvement in World War II. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States government unleashed unrestrained contempt for the Japanese residing in the nation. The general public followed this train of thought, distrusting the Japanese and treating them like something less than human. In a country of freedom and justice, no coalition stepped up to defend the people who had lived there most of or all of their lives; rather, people took advantage of the Japanese evacuation to take their property and belongings. The government released demeaning propaganda displaying comical Japanese men as monsters and rats, encouraging the public to be vigilant and wary toward anyone of Japanese descent. The abuse of the Japanese during this period was taken a little too lightly, the government apologizing too late and now minor education of the real cruelty expressed toward the nation’s own citizens. Now we see history repeating itself in society, and if we don’t catch the warning signs today, history may just come full

Although freedom to become citizens took longer and the fight more difficult, a great number of African Americans steadily gained various rights which accumulated over time. It is important to note that racial segregations momentum dissipated over time as more and more blacks held positions of authority and congressional approval overwhelmingly supported more rights for blacks. Nonetheless, it is also imperative to consider how white supremacists such as the KKK fought to undo the important developments. Till this day, both the executive legislative and judiciary wings of government are constantly battling instances of racial segregation. However, the long range effects of federal government struggle to secure equal rights for African Americans has been significant successes in the rise of African American entrepreneurship. The proliferation of blacks in both government and civil society, the rise of blacks in academia, sports and liberal arts are long effects of the fight for African American rights. This has progressively opened up American society and in a way, levelled the playing field. Also this federal government action to intervene in the affairs of the state has lived on throughout the 21st century.

To what extent can it be argued that De Jure (legal) segregation was the main obstacle preventing blacks from achieving equality in the 1920s – 1930s?

The idea of peacekeeping and the maintaining of order began centuries ago. However, long ago women were not involved in this. As women did enter within 20th century their role was limited. As time passes, change takes place.

Despite nearly one hundred years passing since the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern States were still faced with the most distinct forms of racism. The so-called “Jim Crow” laws that were present in United States at the time, served to segregate blacks and whites from all aspects of public life, including schools, public transport and juries. Often faced with extreme right-wing terrorist groups such as the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan, many among the African American community chose to live in a society of oppression that to actively campaign for equal rights for all humans regardless of the colour of their skin. It wasn’t until the 1950’s and 60’s that the people attempted to challenge the established order by engaging in influential protest movements with the help of key activist groups and their leaders. In particular, one key example of a powerful protest campaign was that which occurred in 1965 in Selma, a small town in Alabama. Here, the African American community united in an effort to ensure that all citizens were equal before the law in regards to their ability to register to vote. Their work in banding together and marching from Selma to the state capital Montgomery, was vastly important to both the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as well as the assurance of the Black vote within the United States. Consequently, this essay seeks to emphasize just how influential this act of protest was to the movement as a whole, whilst analysing the

Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore’s book Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950 shows the Civil Rights movement in the same light as those writers like Jacquelyn Dowd Hall who believed in “The Long Movement.” Gilmore sets out to prove that much more time and aspects went into the Civil Rights Era and that it did not just start at the time of Brown v. Board of Education and the civil rights acts of the nineteen sixties. The book adhered to the ideology of “The Long movement” aspects of the civil rights era during its earlier times. However it also differs by displaying the more unorthodox, often unseen origins of the movement in Communism, labor, and fascism. She also shows that Black civil rights is not a problem faced by many

In a progressive society like the United States, looking to the past is common, to learn from our mistakes but some undeniable issues of the past repeat and are omitted from our society because of their unpleasant nature, a great example of this is the Jim-Crow Era. In this paper, I will be discussing the main events of the Jim-Crow era, its initiation, the new style of slavery in the south, and the way it re-shaped the lives of African Americans all across the country, its re-enforcement in the beginning of the twentieth century, its major supporters, like the Ku Klux Klan. Confederate state leaders, and its major oppositions like the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, and the idea of the United States setting a global example of

officials eventually began to recruit these internees into the American army. Not only was WWII a war about political alliances and geographical sovereignty, but it was also a war about race and racial superiority throughout the world. Propagating this idea, Dower (1986) argues, “World War Two contributed immeasurably not only to a sharpened awareness of racism within the United States, but also to more radical demands and militant tactics on the part of the victims of discrimination” (War Without Mercy: p.5). In elucidating the racial motivations and fallout from WWII, Dower helps one realize the critical role that race and racial politics played during the war and are still at play in our contemporary world. An analysis of this internment process reveals how the ultimate goal of the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans and the United States’ subsequent occupation of Japan was to essentially “brainwash” the Japanese race into demonstrating allegiance to America.

In 1894, the US Supreme Court gave legal consent to state laws segregating black people and white people with its decision concerning the Plessey v Ferguson case. The decision stated that black and white should be separate but equal, meaning the same standard of facilities for both. In reality it legally enforced a state of affairs that assured that blacks would never be equal, and couldn’t get equal treatment, status or opportunity in their own country. During the Second World War, the black American Gi’s realised that they were fighting for a democracy abroad, which they did not have at home.

1. How does the author describe racism in America towards Japan in the Second World War?

American anticommunism stems from a history of fear, and want of control over individuals, and groups of people who are defined as “others”. In this case “others”, is a term attributed to American citizens who were a part of, or held any relation or affiliation with the American Communist Party. Before them, it was immigrants; and before them it was African Americans, and Native Americans (Schrecker, 13). This fear and want of control over the American Communist Party, which immediately started after WWI in America, during the Red Scare of 1919-20; was used by the Republican and Democratic Parties, and their constituents, to gain and hold support in the United States government, and to attempt to shape American domestic and foreign policy

There are factors that drive people, and pride is by far one of the more prominent forces in controlling human behavior. Each with their own individual goal in mind, their pride played a heavy factor in the determination of them reaching that goal or falling short. In many instances, the pride of many outweighed that of the main contributor and history was changed in the course of it. The Cold War Civil Rights movement is an excellent example of when pride gets the best of us and we act on it without thought.” The external struggle of two powerhouse nations led all attention to the elaborate details of those countries, while the internal struggle within those countries exploited an even greater evil. Incidentally, the timing of the two managed to work in unison and push for the expansion of the other. Two nations had their pride at stake, while trying to outdo the other in areas besides the battle field, the only issue was the reoccurring civil injustices happening within each country. Although the Cold War started, shortly before the Civil Rights Movements began the timing could have never been better. As the African American people began their march towards equality and proper treatment by a nation that had enslaved their ancestors forcefully, that same nation began the most intense non-armed war in the existence of humankind. African Americans were well aware of the events happening throughout the world, and their pre-emptive ability to capitalize on the fragile integrity

How the United States and Japan integrated “previously despised populations into their nations in unprecedented ways, while at the same time denouncing racial discrimination and even considering these peoples as part of the national populations and, as such, deserving of life, welfare, and happiness” (Fujitani

The Civil Rights Movement of the 50's and 60's was arguably one of the most formative and influential periods in American history. Hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists utilized non violent resistance and civil disobedience to revolt against racial segregation and discrimination. The Civil Rights Movement began in the southern states but quickly rose to national prominence. It is of popular belief that the civil rights movement was organized by small groups of people, with notable leaders like—Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, and even John F. Kennedy—driving the ship. That is partly correct. The Civil Rights Movement, in its truest form, was hundreds of thousands of people organizing events and protests,