Creating Black Americans: African-American History By Nell Irvin Painter

During the Cold War and Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement experienced some of its greatest successes. In chapters 12 and 13 of the book Creating Black Americans: African-American History and its meanings, 1619 to the present by Nell Irvin Painter, the author shows the pushes for African American rights during the wars and how there were multiple types of movements, both successful in their own ways, ultimately leading to legislation being passed in favor of African Americans. Blacks began to make significant changes in their societies and embraced their culture which further pushed the Civil Rights movement, and allowed them to have triumphs such as Brown v The Board of Education, and The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights

The Cold War brought two very different forms of activism from the African American community. In chapter 12, Painter discusses the activism and boycotts and how each of them play their own role in securing more African American rights. One of the forms of activism was The Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1956. This was a type of nonviolent protest that came because of the Plessy v Ferguson case and “Blacks people had organized boycotts when segregation ordinances first went into effect in Southern cities” (Painter 270). In doing this, Blacks were able to fight back against the mistreatment of their people. They no longer would ride the buses and this made the transportation system take a huge hit. The boycott was fueled by the arrest of Rosa Parks, as well as a speech made by Martin Luther King Jr. From this however came an increase in anti-Black violence. And because of the

In chapter 13, Painter displays the new laws that came out of African American activism as well as the negative effects of the Vietnam War on actual change. The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 got rid of legal segregation, and was a huge success for African Americans everywhere. These two acts were hat the activists had been working so hard for all this time. The issue though was that, “This enormous achievement triggered immediate opposition” (Painter 304). This always came with any success for African Americans, but they could not downplay what a huge moment this was in history. The problems that came after this were caused by the Vietnam War. Because all of the US resources needed to go into funding the war, African Americans were left out to dry once again by the government. This is shown when Martin Luther King Jr. says, “The promises of the Great Society have been shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam” (Painter 305). In the drafting of the war, more black people were drafted which caused problems because now Blacks were dying in larger numbers than whites and that was yet another inequality that enraged African Americans. This time period was one of success and defeat in the eyes of the African American people. They were able to gain so much in legislation,