Students will map the international connections and global ramifications of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s and analyze the ways the movement influenced—and was influenced by—other international movements.
Essential Knowledge
11.A. The Cold War played an important part in presidential decisions to pursue civil rights legislation. Images of violence against protestors in places like Birmingham, Alabama, hurt the image of the United States as it held itself up as a model for democracy abroad.
11.B. Many activists in the Civil Rights Movement were influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of nonviolent direct action and by the anti-colonial and liberation movements happening in India, Africa and other parts of the world.
11.C. In response to disproportionate Black representation among draftees and growing anti-colonial solidarity, some members and organizations within the movement spoke out against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
11.D. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the U.S. was and continues to be a major inspiration for freedom struggles around the world.
11.E. International connections were once again made visible in 2020 with protests in support of Black lives, both in the U.S. and around the globe.
Related Resources
- [11.A.] For evidence of the government’s concern with international perception of the U.S. as a racist nation after violence in Birmingham, Alabama, read the U.S. State Department memo “Soviet Media Coverage of Current US Racial Crisis,” from June 14, 1963, from the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum and available in the Slate article “How the Soviets Used Our Civil Rights Conflicts Against Us.”
- [11.A.] Students can read excerpts from The Crusader, a newsletter that highlighted injustices and taught Black history, often expressing solidarity with liberation struggles beyond the U.S. The Crusader Monthly Newsletter, Vol. 4, No. 1, from 1962, includes an article celebrating Cuba after the revolution and comparing life for people of color there to life in the U.S.
- [11.A.] For a famous example of how activism played out on an international stage, students can analyze the photograph of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising a Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics. Watch the short CBS News video “Tommie Smith Reflects on Iconic Olympic Moment 51 Years Later” for further explanation of the moment and an account of the backlash Smith and Carlos faced for their protest.
- [11.B.] Students should learn about how the movement’s leaders influenced and were influenced by liberation movements in Africa and other parts of the world. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Africa to celebrate the independence of Ghana in 1957 and Nigeria in 1960. Malcolm X was inspired by his trips to the continent in the late 1950s and early 1960s, as were activists John Lewis and Fannie Lou Hamer, who traveled to Africa in 1964. And Stokely Carmichael moved to Guinea in 1969. For examples of how these connections were developed and sustained, students can delve deeper into the international work of SNCC, exploring the SNCC Digital Gateway articles describing the organization’s ties to “African Liberation Movements,” learning about the “SNCC Protests at South African Consulate in New York” and reading some of the reports from the “SNCC Delegation Travels to Africa.”
- [11.C.] Students can read the 1966 “Statement by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee on the War in Vietnam” to better understand the organization’s arguments against the war (available in the LFJ text library).
- [11.C.] For a firsthand report of SNCC protests against the draft and the war—and the racist backlash they provoked—students can read the Atlanta SNCC’s “Report on Draft Program” (available in the LFJ text library).
- [11.C.] Several primary sources can help present the arguments against the draft. In 1967, SNCC organizer Cleveland Sellers refused to be drafted to fight in Vietnam and was convicted of draft evasion. Students can read Sellers’ statement “Black Men and the Draft” to better understand arguments about the racist composition of draft boards and the targeting of movement activists. The 1965 flyer “The War in Vietnam” is another good example. Written and distributed after activists in McComb, Mississippi, learned a classmate and fellow protester had been killed in Vietnam, the flyer lists five reasons why Black people should not fight in the war. Both documents are available from the LFJ text library and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
- [11.D.] For one example of how the movement supported anti-apartheid efforts in South Africa, students can read Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 “Appeal for Action Against Apartheid.” For an overview of some of the overlaps and intersections between the fight against apartheid in South Africa and the Black freedom struggle in the United States, read the Facing South article “From Selma to Soweto: Nelson Mandela and the Southern Freedom Struggle.”
- [11.D.] For another example of the international influence of the Black freedom struggle, students can learn about the circulation of one comic book about Martin Luther King Jr. and how it was shared among protesters during the 2011 Arab Spring. To do so, they can listen to or read the WBUR story “Martin Luther King’s Ideas Reverberate in Egypt” and the WAMU story “MLK Comic Book Helped Inspire Arab Spring.”
- [11.E.] To understand the scope of the 2020 protests, students can listen to or read the NPR story “In 2020, Protests Spread Across the Globe With a Similar Message: Black Lives Matter.” They can also listen to or read the WBUR story “Mapping Black Lives Matter Protests Around the World” and explore the linked map project.
- [11.E.] For a sense of how the influence of the Black freedom struggle continues worldwide, students can read the article “What Black Lives Matter Revealed About Racism Abroad” (available from Crooked Media) to see how the movement is inspiring Black U.K. citizens today.
