African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement

Stanford Nuclear Age Series

by Vincent Intondi

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 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.

Genres: Nonfiction, War, History, American History

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2015

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I feel like he made the clear connection between the anti-nuclear weapons, anti-colonialism, and civil rights movements, and all of the complexities, turfiness, and often failed attempts at coordination between these groups. I appreciated that this book presented an illuminating view at the leaders who were speaking about intersectional issues long before intersectionality (even the word itself) became a thing. We rarely hear about Dr. Martin Luther King Jrs stance on nuclear weapons (and certainly never hear about Coretta Scott King's legacy in this space), but it's always refreshing to learn that these civil rights leaders we have long celebrated are more multifaceted than we often acknowledge in history books and through memes on social media.

Mostly I was disappointed with the ending, possibly because this was published before the end of Obama's term in office. The last chapter about Obama had nothing about the domestic anti-nuclear or civil rights movements and how they supported or even viewed Obama's steps towards nonproliferation. Instead there were statements from journalists and international stakeholders about his work, but nothing compared to the more in depth descriptions in other chapters about the actual foot soldiers of the antinuclear movement. The book was even published before the (now defunct) Iran nuclear deal, which seems a shame. Would have really liked for that to have been placed in this perspective, especially because 5 years later, it seems like all of Obama's work has been undone, or certainly not aggressive enough to reduce the threat of nuclear war I feel we live under today. Where is the antinuclear movement now?

[Annie J (The History Solarium Book Club) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we think about nuclear history, names like Oppenheimer, Einstein, and Kennedy dominate the conversation. Intondi’s work highlights the role of Black activists and intellectuals (including W.E.B. Du Bois, Lorraine Hansberry, Bayard Rustin, Malcolm X, MLK, Mary McLeod Bethune, Barack Obama, and more) as they connected the fight for Black liberation with the global movement against nuclear proliferation. Intondi weaves together multiple historical threads- colonialism, McCarthyism, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement- showing how African American activists saw nuclear disarmament as inseparable from their fight for equality. For teachers discussing anti-war movements (especially the Vietnam War) this book contains many powerful quotes and excerpts that can be used to expand lessons beyond the traditional narratives. The depth of research is impressive and does lead to reading like a dissertation at times with heavily academic prose and may feel dense for casual readers. This is a great addition to the conversation on the impacts of nuclear development.

[James E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has the most extraordinary surprises. Not just Hiroshima survivors, hibakusha, coming to NYC to seek out a conversation with Malcolm X. It starts with the Black churches immediately after Hiroshima, immediately recognizing atomic weapons as more likely to target black and brown people, as tools of imperialism. Before long we learn that key members of the civil rights movement, from Coretta Scott King to Bayard Rustin, were powerfully opposed to America's nuclear arsenal (and educated MLK on the subject).
Intondi has done a remarkable job of writing back into history a significant group of Americans who opposed atomic weapons from the outset. Watch for his forthcoming book: a history of the June 1982 anti-nuclear weapons rally that drew over a million people to Central Park in NYC: The Last Dance: June 12, 1982 and the Fight to Save the World from Nuclear War.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The central and critical theme throughout this read is that colonialism, the Black Freedom Movement, and nuclear weapons of mass destruction are somehow linked as the sub title of the book suggests. The author takes a look from 1945 to the present and how the dropping of two atomic bombs by the United States by order of then President Truman suggested a hint of racism, as he had the bombs dropped on non-whites, or a people of a darker race. He examines the roles of Black antinuclear activists, and their response to such an important issue during a time of postwar, and the struggle for equality, and civil rights. The involvement of these activists are not just contained on the shores of these United States, but branches out, and leaves a footprint in every corner of the world where disintegration and annihilation of human kind is capable.