African Americans Against the Bomb

Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement

Nonfiction, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book African Americans Against the Bomb by Vincent J. Intondi, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Vincent J. Intondi ISBN: 9780804793483
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: January 7, 2015
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Vincent J. Intondi
ISBN: 9780804793483
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: January 7, 2015
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

Well before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out against nuclear weapons, African Americans were protesting the Bomb. Historians have generally ignored African Americans when studying the anti-nuclear movement, yet they were some of the first citizens to protest Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Now for the first time, African Americans Against the Bomb tells the compelling story of those black activists who fought for nuclear disarmament by connecting the nuclear issue with the fight for racial equality. Intondi shows that from early on, blacks in America saw the use of atomic bombs as a racial issue, asking why such enormous resources were being spent building nuclear arms instead of being used to improve impoverished communities. Black activists' fears that race played a role in the decision to deploy atomic bombs only increased when the U.S. threatened to use nuclear weapons in Korea in the 1950s and Vietnam a decade later. For black leftists in Popular Front groups, the nuclear issue was connected to colonialism: the U.S. obtained uranium from the Belgian controlled Congo and the French tested their nuclear weapons in the Sahara. By expanding traditional research in the history of the nuclear disarmament movement to look at black liberals, clergy, artists, musicians, and civil rights leaders, Intondi reveals the links between the black freedom movement in America and issues of global peace. From Langston Hughes through Lorraine Hansberry to President Obama, African Americans Against the Bomb offers an eye-opening account of the continuous involvement of African Americans who recognized that the rise of nuclear weapons was a threat to the civil rights of all people.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Well before Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke out against nuclear weapons, African Americans were protesting the Bomb. Historians have generally ignored African Americans when studying the anti-nuclear movement, yet they were some of the first citizens to protest Truman's decision to drop atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Now for the first time, African Americans Against the Bomb tells the compelling story of those black activists who fought for nuclear disarmament by connecting the nuclear issue with the fight for racial equality. Intondi shows that from early on, blacks in America saw the use of atomic bombs as a racial issue, asking why such enormous resources were being spent building nuclear arms instead of being used to improve impoverished communities. Black activists' fears that race played a role in the decision to deploy atomic bombs only increased when the U.S. threatened to use nuclear weapons in Korea in the 1950s and Vietnam a decade later. For black leftists in Popular Front groups, the nuclear issue was connected to colonialism: the U.S. obtained uranium from the Belgian controlled Congo and the French tested their nuclear weapons in the Sahara. By expanding traditional research in the history of the nuclear disarmament movement to look at black liberals, clergy, artists, musicians, and civil rights leaders, Intondi reveals the links between the black freedom movement in America and issues of global peace. From Langston Hughes through Lorraine Hansberry to President Obama, African Americans Against the Bomb offers an eye-opening account of the continuous involvement of African Americans who recognized that the rise of nuclear weapons was a threat to the civil rights of all people.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book Stasis by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Mandatory Separation by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Romantic Intimacy by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Borders of Belonging by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book New Babylonians by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book The Modernity of Others by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Tokyo in Transit by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book The Balance Gap by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book The Power of Life by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Collective Action and Exchange by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book The Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of Change by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Alone at the Altar by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Little Did I Know by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Aspiring to Home by Vincent J. Intondi
Cover of the book Watching War by Vincent J. Intondi
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy