The African American Experience during World War II
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- 33,99 €
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- 33,99 €
Publisher Description
Drawing on more than thirty years of teaching and research, Neil A. Wynn combines narrative history and primary sources as he locates the World War II years within the long-term struggle for African Americans' equal rights. It is now widely accepted that these years were crucial in the development of the emerging Civil Rights movement through the economic and social impact of the war, as well as the military service itself. Wynn examines the period within the broader context of the New Deal era of the 1930s and the Cold War of the 1950s, concluding that the war years were neither simply a continuation of earlier developments nor a prelude to later change. Rather, this period was characterized by an intense transformation of black hopes and expectations, encouraged by real socio-economic shifts and departures in federal policy. Black self consciousness at a national level found powerful expression in new movements, from the demand for equality in the military service to changes in the shop floor to the "Double V" campaign that linked the fight for democracy at home for the fight for democracy abroad. As the nation played a new world role in the developing Cold War, the tensions between America's stated beliefs and actual practices emphasized these issues and brought new forces into play. More than a half century later, this book presents a much-needed up-to-date, short and readable interpretation of existing scholarship. Accessible to general and student readers, it tells the story without jargon or theory while including the historiography and debate on particular issues.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wynn (The Afro-American and the Second World War) surveys the experience of African-Americans during WWII in this brief, readable history the latest entry in the publisher's African-American history series. Drawing on primary sources and recent scholarship, the author explores the contradictory experience of African-Americans during the war a mixture of progress and resistance and concludes that the war years were crucial in the development of the emerging civil rights movement. Wynn's evenhanded analysis of the paradoxical nature of African-Americans' wartime experience yields a balance between the hard-won successes including significant economic progress and the inevitable setbacks: foremost among them, the heightened racial divisions that led to widespread violence and the lack of any real progress in the struggle for social equality. The author argues that African-Americans' wartime experience prompted postwar advances e.g., President Harry Truman's 1948 executive order ending racial segregation in the armed forces but notes that, despite the gains, African-Americans still had a long way to go. A diverse selection of correspondence, editorials, government documents, and memoirs enhance the survey's value for general readers.
