Download African Americans after WWII

The Cold War
Americas conflicts with the Soviet
Union (USSR) after WWII
The United States sent
troops all over the world
to fight during WWII.
They stuck around after
the fighting was over
when they and their allies
had won the war in 1945.
After WWII, the United
States had troops and
military bases all over the
world.
1. Describe where
some U.S. military
personnel and bases
were after WWII.
The US claimed they needed
to keep US military troops
around the globe to defend
the world from dictators like
the ones they defeated in
WWII. The new enemy after
the war was Communism.
The USSR (Soviet Union)
led these countries and also
stationed troops and helped
out Communist movements
around the globe.
2. After the Fascists were
eliminated after WWII,
who became the new
enemy?
3. What was the USSR
doing around the globe
that was similar to what
the U.S. was doing?
Communism in Theory and Practice
4. Why would
people in
places like
China support
Communism?
5. What was a
Communist
country really
like?
In theory, communism was a system in which all the workers would take control of the
businesses and run them so that everyone was treated fairly, got a good wage, and no
one got rich off the work of others. In practice, Communist Party leaders took control of
the government, denied people’s rights and freedoms, and controlled businesses as well
as many other parts of the society.
The U.S. government gave money and
military support to many brutal, murderous
dictators in the name of fighting
Communism. U.S. leaders believed a country
would be able to develop into a democracy
over time. But if it got taken over by
Communists, then it would never become
democratic.
The Central
Intelligence Agency
(CIA) was involved
in killings and other
bad deeds in the
name of fighting
Communism.
6- Why did the US
support dictators?
7- What were American
leaders hoping would
happen in these countries?
American leaders claimed that
an anti-Communist dictator
was better than a Communist
dictator. They could help create
a capitalist, market economy.
American companies could do
well and profit in such a
country. This would create jobs
and money for people in the
country as well. In the long run,
Americans believed a capitalist
economy would lead to a
democratic political system.
The US supported
Chile’s General
Pinochet taking over
the government from
democratically officials
who were suspected of
supporting Communism
8. What economic reasons did
Americans have for supporting
dictators?
9. Which political and economic
systems fit together, according to
American leaders?
The US military was involved in two major wars after
WWII up to the Gulf War in 1991. The first one was
the Korean War (1950-53). US leaders supported this
war as an effort to stop the spread of communism.
Many American troops died as well as many Koreans.
China had already become Communist in 1948 and
U.S. leaders were afraid other countries would fall to
Communism in a “Domino Effect.”
10. Why did the U.S. fight in Korea?
11. What did people mean by the “Domino Effect”?
G.I. Bill
After WWII, many soldiers and other
military personnel benefited from this
law. It provided funding for education
and allowed many of them to go to
college. For many of the people who
came from working-class and farming
backgrounds they were the first in
their families to get a higher
education degree and enter the middle
class.
12. What service did the GI Bill provide for
military veterans?
13. What effect did it have on these people and
their lives?
African Americans
after WWII
African Americans began moving to
the cities in large numbers during
WWI, and this trend greatly increased
during and after WWII. In 1900 most
blacks lived in rural areas and farmed.
By the 1970s most blacks lived in
cities. Their WWII experiencesmoving to cities and to the North,
getting better paying jobs, getting out
of the South, and fighting in the waralso led more African Americans to
fight for their rights.
14. What demographic shift was
occurring in black America after
WWII?
15. How did WWII influence the
struggle for equality?
The Civil Rights Movement
Rosa Parks' refusal to move
to the back of the bus
sparked the Montgomery bus
boycott and the larger Civil
Rights Movement.
The movement was led by
black Christians but included
people from all races and
religions.
The horrific murder of Emmett Till caused
Americans to see the brutal, murderous side of
segregation.
16. What strategies did activists use
to make changes to segregation?
17. What actions did President LBJ
do in response to the movement?
1963 March on Washington
Lunch counter sit-ins
After protests, boycotts, and sit-ins, LBJ
signed into law the 1964 Civil Rights
Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act. LBJ
also enacted Great Society legislation
that helped out poor people with jobs
and economic assistance.
MAJOR WARS - Vietnam
The US military was involved in another major
war after WWII and that was the Vietnam War
(1960s to 1973) in Southeast Asia.
18. Where was the other major war during the Cold War?
Many American troops died as well
as many Vietnamese (estimates are
in the millions of dead Vietnamese).
Both sides were involved in horrible
fighting conditions. The television
media covered the war, including
atrocities like the My Lai Massacre,
and many Americans began to turn
against it.
19. Why did some Americans turn against support
for another war against Communism?
The My Lai massacre
where Vietnamese
civilians were killed.
The war in Vietnam dragged on and thousands of
US troops died. Images of a losing war effort were
on television all the time. And when the US started
drafting more young men, especially college aged
men, protests against the war increased.
Protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention
20. What caused many
young people to protest the
war?
CBS’s Dan Rather reporting from Vietnam
A student protestor at Kent
State shot dead by the Ohio
National Guard (1970)
The Women’s
Movement
Although women had gained the right to vote in 1920, they still faced prejudice and
discrimination in the schools and workplaces of America. Some women’s rights activists, or
feminists, also pushed for social equality and advocated for things like men taking a larger role
in raising children and greater opportunities for girls in public school sports programs. One
victory in 1972 was Title IX (an amendment to the Civil Rights Act of 1964) which outlawed
discrimination in education and school programs. Women’s and girl’s participation in sports
and entry into colleges has increased dramatically since then.
21. What forms of discrimination did women face in 1960s and 1970s?
22. What led to women having more opportunities in sports programs?