WWII and the Early Civil Rights Movement

A. Philip Randolph led a crusade against discrimination in employment and the war industry. Mary McLeod Bethune stood for racial uplift and access to education. And more than 1.2 million African Americans enlisted in the armed forces. On the Home Front and on battlefields across the globe, black Americans served with distinction only to return to a deeply segregated Jim Crow nation. In their “Double Victory Campaign,” African Americans had achieved victory over fascism abroad. Following World War II, they began their long fight for victory over Jim Crow at home.

Join The National WWII Museum and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History as we explore World War II as catalysts of the modern civil rights movement.

Appropriate for grades 9–12.