The "Forgotten Years" of the Negro Revolution

Abstract

A RECENT president of American Sociological Society addressed himself to a puzzling question about what we know as Civil Rights Revolution: Why did social scientists-and sociologists in particular-not foresee explosion of collective action of Negro Americans toward full integration into American society? He pointed out that is vigor and urgency of Negro demand that is new, not its direction or supporting ideas.' Without arguing further, lack of knowledge can be attributed to two groups-the ahistorical social scientists, and historians who, until recently, have neglected modern Negro history. search for a watershed in recent Negro history ends at years that comprised World War II, 1939-1945. James Baldwin has written of this period: The treatment accorded Negro during Second World War marks, for me, a in Negro's relation to America. To put it briefly, and somewhat too simply, a certain hope died, a certain respect for white Americans faded.'2 Writing during World War II, Gunnar Myrdal predicted that war would act as a stimulant to Negro protest, and he felt that There is bound to be a redefinition of Negro's status in America as a result of this War.3 Negro sociologist E. Franklin Frazier states that World War II marked where The Negro was no longer willing to accept discrimination in employment and in housing without protest.' '4 Charles E. Silberman writes that war was a turning point in American race relations, in which the seeds of