Foreign Policy and Civil Rights

Abstract

IN COLD WAR CIVIL RIGHTS, MARY L. DUDZIAK PLACES THE STUDY OF THE POSTWorld War II Civil Rights Movement in the context of United States foreign relations. In doing so, Dudziak expands the scope of civil rights history and offers new insight into why the federal government saw African American civil rights as integral to its foreign policy mission. While there have been a growing number of books that explore how civil rights activists used the cold war strategically to wage civil rights struggles, Dudziak's study is the first to show how the federal government's commitment to Cold War foreign policy seasoned its support for civil rights reforms.' Although civil rights activists had long relied on international audiences for support and solidarity, Dudziak shows that the Cold War's reliance on preserving American prestige abroad made international observers' sentiments integral to foreign policy. Within this context, racial discrimination, especially when it was broadcast to international observers, became problematic to the Cold War effort itself. Moreover, African American civil rights leaders capitalized on the importance of foreign perceptions of the United States by publicizing acts of racial violence abroad. African American participation as soldiers and as workers at home allowed civil rights leaders to claim that they were an indispensable part of American society, and especially of the war effort. Moreover, World War II was