Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2018

 

The Cold War and African-American Civil Rights Reform: The Decision of Brown v. Board of Education from the Perspective of International History (Abstract)

 

Xie Guorong

 

After WWII, the racial issue in America became increasingly internationalized due to America’s changing international role, the Cold War, the rise of third world states, the importance attached to human rights protection by the international community and the international turn of African Americans’ fight for civil rights. In order to safeguard its national image and “world leadership,” and strive to win third world countries over to the capitalist camp, the US government had no choice but to take protection of African Americans’ rights seriously. In a series of black civil rights cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, the Department of Justice, as “a friend of the court,” submitted a written statement on behalf of the US government demanding the abolition of segregation couched in terms of US foreign relations and the national interest. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court ultimately handed down a decision overturning the principle of “separate but equal,” a decision affected in many respects by international factors. The US government made the most of this result and the ensuing favorable international opinion to improve its national image and reputation. Its political use of the Brown v. Board of Education decision helped the US government gain some results, and international public opinion in turn became a driver of African-American civil rights reform.