War! What Is It Good For?: Black Freedom Struggles and the U.S. Military from World War II to Iraq (The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture)

African Americans' Long Campaign For 'the Right To Fight' Forced Harry Truman To Issue His 1948 Executive Order Calling For Equality Of Treatment And Opportunity In The Armed Forces. In War! What Is It Good For?, Kimberley Phillips Examines How Blacks' Participation In The Nation's Wars After Truman's Order And Their Protracted Struggles For Equal Citizenship Galvanized A Vibrant Antiwar Activism That Reshaped Their Struggles For Freedom. Using An Array Of Sources -- From Newspapers And Government Documents To Literature, Music, And Film -- And Tracing The Period From World War Ii To The Iraq And Afghanistan Wars, Phillips Considers How Federal Policies That Desegregated The Military Also Maintained Racial, Gender, And Economic Inequalities. Since 1945, The Nation's Need For Military Labor, Blacks' Unequal Access To Employment, And Discriminatory Draft Policies Have Forced Black Men Into The Military At Disproportionate Rates. While Mainstream Civil Rights Leaders Considered The Integration Of The Military To Be A Civil Rights Success, Many Black Soldiers, Veterans, And Antiwar Activists Perceived War As Inimical To Their Struggles For Economic And Racial Justice And Sought To Reshape The Civil Rights Movement Into An Antiwar Black Freedom Movement. Since The Vietnam War, Phillips Argues, Many African Americans Have Questioned Linking Militarism And War To Their Concepts Of Citizenship, Equality, And Freedom.--publisher's Description. Where Are The Negro Soldiers? The Double V Campaign And The Segregated Military -- Jim Crow Shock And The Second Front, 1945-1950 -- Glory On The Battlefield: The Korean War, Cold War Civil Rights, And The Paradox Of Black Military Service -- Did The Battlefield Kill Jim Crow? Black Freedom Struggles, The Korean War, And The Cold War Military -- Machine Gun Blues: Black America And The Vietnam War -- Sing No More Of War: Black Freedom Struggles And Antiwar Activism, 1960-1973 -- An Epilogue About The United States And Wars In Medias Res. Live From The Front Lines: Military Policy And Soldiers' Rap From Iraq. Kimberley L. Phillips. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 287-337) And Index.

African Americans' long campaign for "the right to fight" forced Harry Truman to issue his 1948 executive order calling for equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed forces. In War! What Is It Good For?, Kimberley Phillips examines how blacks' participation in the nation's wars after Truman's order and their protracted struggles for equal citizenship galvanized a vibrant antiwar activism that reshaped their struggles for freedom.

Using an array of sources—from newspapers and government documents to literature, music, and film—and tracing the period from World War II to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Phillips considers how federal policies that desegregated the military also maintained racial, gender, and economic inequalities. Since 1945, the nation's need for military labor, blacks' unequal access to employment, and discriminatory draft policies have forced black men into the military at disproportionate rates. While mainstream civil rights leaders considered the integration of the military to be a civil rights success, many black soldiers, veterans, and antiwar activists perceived war as inimical to their struggles for economic and racial justice and sought to reshape the civil rights movement into an antiwar black freedom movement. Since the Vietnam War, Phillips argues, many African Americans have questioned linking militarism and war to their concepts of citizenship, equality, and freedom.

Title Page 4 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Abbreviations and Acronyms 13 Introduction: “War!” and “Machine Gun” Blues 18 1 WHERE ARE THE NEGRO SOLDIERS? The Double V Campaign and the Segregated Military 37 2 JIM CROW SHOCK AND THE SECOND FRONT, 1945–1950 81 3 GLORY ON THE BATTLEFIELD: The Korean War, Cold War Civil Rights, and the Paradox of Black Military Service 129 4 DID THE BATTLEFIELD KILL JIM CROW? Black Freedom Struggles, the Korean War, and the Cold War Military 169 5 MACHINE GUN BLUES: Black America and the Vietnam War 205 6 SING NO MORE OF WAR: Black Freedom Struggles and Antiwar Activism, 1960–1973 245 An Epilogue about the United States and Wars in Medias Res: LIVE FROM THE FRONT LINES: Military Policy and Soldiers’ Rap from Iraq 290 Notes 304 Index 356 A 356 B 356 C 356 D 357 E 357 F 357 G 357 H 357 I 357 J 357 K 357 L 358 M 358 N 358 O 358 P 358 R 359 S 359 T 359 U 359 V 359 W 359 Y 360