During World War II, the soldiers overseas were exposed to a much different world—a world where racial segregation was not the norm. This upside-down world abroad had an astounding effect on the black soldiers who returned home after the war to the segregated society they had left behind. This effect, the growth in NAACP membership, and the development of a southern black middle class helped to motivate African Americans to demand a dramatic change that would put an end to their oppression. Thus, the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s emerged, and blacks were determined to revolutionize American society. The two historians, Howard Zinn and Alan Brinkley, focused on this movement in their book’s A People’s History of the United States …show more content…
Zinn focused primarily on the change in attitude of the blacks because of the movement. In regards to the Greensboro sit-ins, Zinn included the account of a young black teacher who said, “Before, the Negro in the South had always looked on the defensive, cringing. This time they were taking the initiative” (Zinn, 453). By including this, Zinn implied that this movement encouraged blacks to not be afraid but rather to fight for change. He also focused on a “new black consciousness” that had developed during the movement that was “still alive” in the 1970s (Zinn, 467). Zinn then went on to list examples of instances after the Civil Rights Movement where blacks and whites came together, primarily in the workforce and in unions (Zinn, 467). This interpretation matched Zinn’s overall view of the movement and history in general, for he focused on the people in terms of the movement’s long-term effects. Brinkley, on the other hand, did not discuss long-term effects, but rather he implied that the laws passed during the movement, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 for example, had long-term effects (Brinkley, 706). This focus on the success of the government aligned with Brinkley’s overall view that the government was strong and supportive of its