African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement
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African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement
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Overview
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.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780804793483 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Stanford University Press |
| Publication date: | 05/25/2023 |
| Series: | Stanford Nuclear Age Series |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| Sales rank: | 298,510 |
| File size: | 821 KB |
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Read an Excerpt
African Americans Against the Bomb
Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement
By Vincent J. Intondi
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 2015 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior UniversityAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-9348-3
CHAPTER 1
The Response to the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Are we to show our strength in guns and tanks—in atom bombs? Or, in food for the hungry, plows to till the field, and in bringing peace to men of good will? —Mary McLeod Bethune, 1947
AS WORD SPREAD THAT PRESIDENT TRUMAN had instructed Emperor Hirohito to surrender, Chicago's South Side erupted in approval. "I'm the happiest woman in the world," exclaimed Mary Johnson, an African American South Sider. On August 18, 1945, the Chicago Defender declared, "America Hails End of War!" stating, "Everywhere Negro Americans welcomed the victory." The New York Amsterdam News reported, "Harlem exploded with uncurbed joy upon hearing of Japan's surrender." In Pittsburgh, Laura Dillard sat on her stoop watching the V-J Day parade pass by. She exulted, "The prayers of the righteous bear fruit." Described by the Pittsburgh Courier as representative of the "old South and new East," Dillard said, "Maybe I'm not so righteous, but I have prayed for peace ever since the war started. We have all prayed ... and our prayers have at last been answered." Throughout the country, it appeared that African Americans shared the same joyous response as most of the American public upon hearing the news that Japan had surrendered.
Much of the black community's enthusiastic support for the war, however, came from a hope that African Americans' loyalty, ability, and overall contribution to the war effort would be recognized and rewarded with progress toward gaining full equality. Many black soldiers shared these hopes. In March 1943, 42 percent of black soldiers thought they would be better off when they left the army. The same percentage foresaw better treatment for all African Americans after the war, with 43 percent anticipating "more rights and privileges." One soldier commented, "If we lose, the Negro's lot can't improve; but if we win there is a chance." Another declared, "By virtue of our valor, courage, and patriotism, things will be better for the Negro."
African American journalists even highlighted black scientists' contribution to the atomic bomb to bolster the case for equality. On August 18, the Courier's headline read, "Negro Scientists Played Important Role in Atomic Bomb Development." The Defender also published a front-page article bearing the headline "Negro Scientists Help Produce 1st Atom Bomb." The Washington Afro-American announced that seven thousand black workers at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, had assisted in creating the atomic bomb; the article included photos of black men and women working in the plants. In each story, though, the writers reserved praise for the workers, not the bomb. The Courier published biographies of black chemists who had contributed to the development of the bomb. Journalists stressed the scientists' education levels and ability to work side by side with white scientists. Writing for the Atlanta Daily World, the Reverend John C. Wright pointed out that black scientists who worked on the bomb were equal to whites in "scholastic backgrounds, research experience, and in the type of contribution they made to the project." These men had become "masters in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, and physics, and showed the true potential of a liberal education from Negro Colleges and Universities in the South." The Norfolk Journal and Guide described Dr. Ernest Wilkins, an African American chemist, as a "wizard of mathematics," who received his PhD at nineteen and was recruited by the government from Tuskegee to work full time on the atomic bomb. Commenting on the level of black participation, Private First Class Jimmy Williams, in a letter to the editor, wrote: "We can truthfully say that the making of it [the atomic bomb] was in the hands of the Negro. In other things that we have accomplished why are we so still denied our advantages?"
The black press also highlighted African Americans' role in protecting classified information about the atomic bomb. The Courier reported that twenty-three African Americans were working for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and an additional "nine carefully selected Negroes" were in charge of guarding the building, safes, vaults, and confidential file cabinets of the AEC. The nine guards, veterans of both world wars, were described as "the sole custodians of the world's top secrets." Again, journalists reserved praise for the workers, not the bomb, calling them "the cream-of-the-crop personnel staff of Negro employees." The Courier made clear that African Americans worked with whites, sharing the same locker room, and the atmosphere was "completely free of segregation." The government's hiring of African Americans showed "color was not an important factor" in a job that required loyalty and trust, the Courier concluded.
The Criticism Begins
Most Americans justified the atomic bombings, many seeing them as revenge for Pearl Harbor. While many white Americans differentiated between Nazis and Germans, fascists and Italians, when it came to Japan, the entire country was responsible for Pearl Harbor. Historian John Dower explains that following the bombing of Pearl Harbor a majority of Americans developed a genocidal race hatred toward the Japanese. Ronald Takaki agrees, arguing that the anger over Pearl Harbor "aroused a national bloodthirstiness that seemed unquenchable until the enemy had been totally vanquished." In January 1945 Newsweek reported, "Never before has the nation fought a war in which our troops so hate the enemy and want to kill him." Indeed, a motto of the U.S. Marines stated, "Remember Pearl Harbor—keep'em dying." Admiral William Halsey, commander of the South Pacific Force, gave his men a direct and simple message: "Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs."
The U.S. military, press, and public at large routinely described the Japanese as apes, gorillas, "yellow monkeys," demons, savages, subhumans, and beasts. General Joseph Stilwell wrote his wife, "When I think of how these bowlegged cockroaches have ruined our calm lives it makes me want to wrap Jap guts around every lamppost in Asia." Time magazine declared, "The ordinary unreasoning Jap is ignorant. Perhaps he is human. Nothing ... indicates it." These attitudes help explain why less than a week after the atomic bombings, a Gallup poll showed that 85 percent of respondents approved of Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb. Two months later, a Roper poll reported the following results when Americans were asked which of four statements best expressed their opinion about the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan.
1. We should not have used any atomic bomb at all:..... 4.5%
2. We should have dropped one first on some unpopulated region, to show the Japanese its power, and dropped the second one on a city only if they hadn't surrendered after the first one:..... 13.8%
3. We should have used the two bombs on cities, just as we did:..... 53.5%
4. We should have quickly used many more of the bombs before Japan had a chance to surrender:..... 22.7%
5. Don't know:..... 5.5%
Historian Lawrence Wittner notes that no poll in late 1945 ever revealed more than 4.5 percent of respondents being opposed to the use of atomic bombs under any circumstances, concluding that after four years of war one out of four Americans' primary concern was not to secure surrender, but to kill as many Japanese as possible.
While much of the general public celebrated Truman's decision, a smaller number immediately condemned the use of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some were members of traditional peace groups, such as the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Others came from the religious community, like the Catholic Church and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR). However, atomic scientists were among the earliest and most vociferous critics of the bomb.
In November 1945, atomic scientists formed the Federation of Atomic Scientists (FAS). A month later, the FAS reorganized itself into the Federation of American Scientists and created the National Committee on Atomic Information (NCAI), an umbrella group that brought together labor, religious, educational, and professional organizations. The FAS distributed educational information to libraries, scientific organizations, and the media, including the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which became the definitive source for antinuclear information. Like many atomic scientists, Jasper Jeffries, an African American physicist and member of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago, believed that a world government through the United Nations was necessary to deal with the challenges of the nuclear age. He envisioned international control as the only safeguard against atomic energy coming under the control of national militaries. Without control, he warned, there would ultimately be a "mad race to arm with atomic weapons." However, Jeffries concluded the best way to ensure peaceful uses of atomic energy was to "banish war entirely."
Jeffries was not alone. Inside black communities, pastors, poets, intellectuals, artists, and musicians condemned the atomic bombings and immediately criticized Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons. Many of these men and women were not lifelong peace activists, and for the first time they began to view colonialism, racism, and the bomb as links in the same chain.
African Americans were among the first to envision what historian Peter Kuznick refers to as the "apocalyptic narrative." In late August, Gordon Hancock, a columnist for the Atlanta Daily World, warned readers that with the development of the atomic bomb, life on earth will "eventually be totally destroyed ... Mankind will be the loser in the great game of human destructiveness." He argued that unless mankind had a moral awakening, "we are all doomed." Atomic weapons had made the world a "slaughter pen," as children would be "snatched from their mothers' knees to face a horrible destruction." Hancock predicted that "wicked men" and the "science of human destruction" would end the world in the "twinkle of an eye." William Fowlkes, managing editor and columnist for the World, described the atomic bomb as "a ghastly war weapon." He told his readers that the atomic bombings left him with "a new horror of the future of mankind and respect for the Biblical Revelations of the destruction of earth's creatures and their creations by man himself." A few days after the atomic bombings, the Defender warned, "When the frightful horror and devastation of the new atomic bomb was unleashed on Japan, that shock was not only felt in Hiroshima but in every city and hamlet throughout the world. A tremor of foreboding fear must have shaken the spirits of men everywhere—an awesome dread lest this most formidable weapon of destruction turn out to be a Frankenstein to be turned against its democratic creators at some future date." An editorial in the Washington Afro-American explained, "Each time a new weapon of offense is developed it becomes necessary to develop a new instrument of defense. All efforts are then bent toward the development of an even more lethal offensive weapon and so the vicious circle is perpetuated."
A little over a week after the atomic bombings, the Baltimore Afro-American polled African Americans in Newark, New Jersey, on the atomic bomb and its effect upon the future of the world. Of the statements the Afro-American printed, most expressed concern over the use of the atomic bomb. Muriel Blackburn, a student, said, "It is rather terrifying that it [the atomic bomb] should come out as a war weapon and not as an instrument to benefit mankind." Beauty shop owner Mary Hall warned that the atomic bomb "will cause the other powers to create or release something even more stupendous. I do not think it will cause wars to cease but rather to be more destructive." Edward Lewis, a truck driver, worried that the atomic bomb would "force civilization to thrive below the earth." Even those who showed minor support for the bomb stressed the importance of controlling and monitoring its use. Martin Erwin Jr., a wholesale house manager, hoped that "men who will be in control of that bomb have the interest of humanity in their hearts."
Respondents to a similar question posed by the Norfolk Journal and Guide reacted more favorably to the use of the bomb. The paper asked five women, "What do you think of the atomic bomb?" All of the women praised the role of the bomb in bringing the war to an end. Selena Harris called the atomic bomb "the greatest destructive force of scientific discovery," but also explained that when atomic energy was "directed into proper channels" the entire civilized world "would benefit greatly." When Constance Quiero first heard of the bomb, she thought that "no nation could withstand the devastating effects of such a weapon" and thus the war would quickly end. Janette Spencer showed the most enthusiasm: "This deadly weapon of war can easily be termed the greatest discovery of the century ... and if diverted to the good of mankind it will change completely the pattern of civilization. I think it has undreamed of possibilities."
Criticism of the bomb, however, could be found on both sides of the political aisle. Conservative journalist George Schuyler wrote a scathing critique of U.S. foreign policy, connecting the atomic bombings to race and colonialism:
The atom bomb puts the Anglo-Saxons definitely on top where they will remain for decades ... This means that the Anglo-Saxons, led by the U.S.A., will have their way in the world until other people discover and perfect a weapon more devastating than the uranium bomb. That way, it must be admitted, is the way of white imperialism which firearms enabled them to establish two centuries ago. Controlling this tremendous power for evil are second-rate and small-minded men filled with racial arrogance such as Truman, Tom Connally, Jimmy Byrnes, Stimson, Bilbo and our military naval officer clique, who believe in racial segregation and color discrimination with religious fanaticism and have not the slightest intention of lowering the color barriers their forefathers established.
Schuyler referred to the bombings as the "murder of men wholesale" and "the supreme atrocity of all time." He made sure to mention that those killed were civilians—mothers, fathers, and children. Killing people by the thousand no longer satisfied the United States, Schuyler argued. "Now the country achieved the supreme triumph of being able to slaughter whole cities at a time."
As these sentiments emerged in the black consciousness, members of the clergy began to speak to their parishioners about the atomic bomb. Concerned about the role race played in Truman's decision, the Reverend J. E. Elliott, pastor of St. Luke Chapel, argued, "I have seen the course of discrimination throughout the war and the fact that Japan is of a darker race is no excuse for resorting to such an atrocity." The Reverend Louis F. Lomax of Taber Presbyterian Church referred to the bomb as a "diabolical weapon" and claimed that "man has more scientific knowledge than religion to control it." Expressing a similar perspective, the Reverend A. Joseph Edward, pastor of Zion Baptist Church, stated, "We were taught to hate this enemy, and our hatred has made us barbarous and inhumane as our enemy." The Reverend Samuel Gandy, chaplain of Virginia State College, warned that racial domination could lead to nuclear war and destroy the world. The atomic bomb made racial equality and brotherhood "social mandates." For the future of mankind, "no longer could one racial group dominate," Gandy maintained.
Poet Langston Hughes also joined the initial chorus of protest against the bomb. Hughes questioned the justification for using the atomic bomb through his fictional character Jesse B. Semple, known also as "Simple," who appeared regularly in his column in the Defender. Drawing on conversations in bars, Hughes used Simple as a wise fool of Harlem to comment on a variety of topics that affected the black community. To address the issue of the atomic bomb, Hughes recalled a conversation between himself and Simple. The story begins with Simple and Hughes trying to change the topic of discussion from race relations to human relations. However, as Simple points out, "The only trouble with that is that we will not have no human relations left when we get through dropping that new atomical bomb on each other. The way it kills people for miles around, all my relations and—me too—is liable to be wiped out in no time." Simple then asks, "How come we did not try them [atomic bombs] on Germany?" "Perhaps they were not perfected before V-E Day," Hughes responds. "You know better than that. They just did not want to use them on white folks. Germans is white. So they wait until the war is over in Europe to try them out on colored folks. Japs is colored," explains Simple.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from African Americans Against the Bomb by Vincent J. Intondi. Copyright © 2015 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Excerpted by permission of STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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Table of Contents
Contents and AbstractsIntroduction chapter abstractDiscussing the focus, structure, and overall theme of the book, the Introduction explains the importance of the study, as well its relevance to African American and United States history. The introduction propose a number of questions: Did African Americans respond differently to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki than did other Americans and, if so, to what extent was this related to the fact that the first victims were non-Caucasians? Did African Americans' discrimination-induced estrangement from American life allow for a more critical attitude toward the Cold War in general and U.S. nuclear policy in particular? Did the left-oriented social and political activism inspired by black Popular Front groups translate into a broader critique of U.S. militarism and foreign policy, both of which were undergirded by the American nuclear arsenal?
1The Response to the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki chapter abstractWhile the majority of Americans approved of President Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, African Americans' initial response to the atomic bombings was quite different from that of the general public. Historians have compiled polls, surveys, and data to analyze the American reaction to the atomic bombings. Some data account for racial differences. However, no one has explored the response of the black church, press, entertainment industry, or ordinary black citizens. Chapter One traces the reactions of black activists, organizations, journalists, and others to the atomic bombings. Many black activists who appear throughout the book, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, and Bayard Rustin, begin their antinuclear activism in this chapter. This chapter examines black leftists who worked for nuclear disarmament through a new communist-led peace movement, analyzing how they affected the black freedom movement and the political landscape of the late 1940s.
2"We Will Not Go Quietly Into the Night": Fighting for Peace and Freedom During the McCarthy Era chapter abstractWith the rise of McCarthyism, antinuclear became synonymous with pro-communism. However, black leftists refused to remain silent on the nuclear issue and they were not alone. Throughout the black community, citizens protested the use of nuclear weapons. They were not motivated by a directive from Moscow, but fear that nuclear weapons would again be used on a "darker nation," with the start of the Korean War. In an effort to prevent President Truman from using nuclear weapons in Korea, black activists circulated the "Ban the Bomb" pledge throughout the country, ran for political office on peace platforms, and worked with organized labor in a variety of ways. While the Red Scares of the 1950s stymied black activism, the connections between peace, colonialism, and freedom did not cease, and by the late 1950s had increased considerably.
3"Links in the Same Chain": Civil Rights, Anticolonialism, and the Bomb in Africa chapter abstractSince 1945, black activists had consistently made that case that the bomb, colonialism, and civil rights were inextricably linked. During the years 1954-1960 the argument never seemed clearer. Nuclear testing around the world dramatically increased. The Civil Rights Movement emerged with the Brown v. Board of Education decision and murder of Emmett Till. At the same time, twenty-nine nations of Asia and Africa gathered in Bandung, Indonesia to address racism, colonialism, and the threat of nuclear weapons. Black leftists, civil rights activists, and ordinary citizens began making the connections. During 1957-1958 African Americans began working in new antinuclear groups like Committee for Non-Violent Action (CNVA) and Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE). All of these issues came together when Bayard Rustin led a team, including Kwame Nkrumah and Bill Sutherland, in Africa to stop the French from testing a nuclear weapon, the Sahara Project.
4"Desegregation Not Disintegration": The Black Freedom Movement, Vietnam, and Nuclear Weapons chapter abstractDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began connecting nuclear disarmament to black freedom in the late 1950s. Chapter Four challenges scholars who suggest that King did not combine peace and freedom until 1967 when he spoke out against Vietnam. This chapter also focuses on those African Americans who again witnessed the U.S. declare war on a "darker nation," and threatened to use nuclear weapons in Vietnam, while at the same time denied African Americans equality at home. These activists included a number of black women who began to make their voices heard as members of WILPF and Women Strike for Peace (WSP). Throughout the 1950s-1960s, Coretta Scott King, Lorraine Hansberry, Erna Harris, and others traveled around the world attending disarmament conferences and even confronted the Pope to achieve nuclear disarmament.
5"From Civil Rights to Human Rights": African American Activism in the Post-Vietnam Era chapter abstractFollowing the Vietnam War, many black activists saw a direct link between President Reagan's increased spending for nuclear weapons and the elimination of funds for social programs that mostly benefited the poor. As antinuclear activism reached new heights in the 1980s, black participation was also at an all-time high. Black politicians, athletes, activists, entertainers, and clergy consistently made the case that Reagan's nuclear ambitions negatively impacted their community. From the Continental Walk for Disarmament and Social Justice to the famous June 12, 1982 rally, these men and women not only participated in antinuclear events, but in some cases, took the lead in the movement to ban the bomb. Throughout these events, black activists made clear the black freedom movement, peace, and colonialism were indeed links in the same chain.
6Epilogue chapter abstractFrom Harold Washington to Ronald Dellums, black politicians have consistently lifted the antinuclear banner throughout U.S. history. As a student and presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke tirelessly about the need for nuclear abolition. How have his policies as President matched up? The book concludes by examining the current state of black activism and analyzing whether President Obama has strengthened or weakened the chance for a world with global human rights and free of nuclear weapons.