The Response of the Moderate Wing of the Civil Rights Movement to the War in Vietnam

Datos Bibliográficos

ID8955899
AutoresHall (0009-0005-1959-7868, University of Leeds, autor de correspondencia), Simon Hall (0000-0002-5080-6008)
Año2003
Volumen46
Número3
Páginas669-701
Fecha de publicación2003-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Historical Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0018-246X • E-ISSN: 1469-5103
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0018246x03003200
OpenAlexW2168160705
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas5

This article explores the response of the moderate wing of the civil rights movement to the war in Vietnam. The moderates, made up of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, and leaders such as Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph, were initially opposed to the civil rights movement taking a stand against the war. This reluctance was the result of a number of factors, including anti-communism and their own closeness with the administration of President Lyndon Johnson. Crucially, it also resulted from their own experiences of the black freedom struggle itself. The article also documents and analyses the growing anti-war dissent amongst the moderates, culminating in the decision of both the NAACP and the Urban League to adopt an anti-war stance at the end of the 1960s. Despite this, they remained unenthusiastic about participating in peace movement activities, and the reasons for this are explained. Finally, the article suggests that the war was important in exposing existing divisions within the civil rights movement, as well as in generating new ones

Art · Civil rights · Communism · Dissent · League · Movement (music · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Vietnam War · American Political and Social Dynamics · Law · Race, History, and American Society · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies