African-American Veterans and the Civil Rights Movement - Lecture, Film, Discussion

Within the Black community it has been observed that a relatively large number of military veterans of World War II and Korea were prominent in the civil rights movement, such as Medger Evers (Army, World War II), James Forman (Air Force, Korean War) and Floyd McKissick (Army, World War II). However, less noted are the large numbers of African-American veterans who were rank-and-file activists in the struggle. There is now solid evidence that veterans were not only a disproportionate number of participants, but they were also largely motivated to action by their experience in the miltary. This presentation indicates the historical context in which this happened, as well as the empirical evidence showing the disposition of military service to civil rights involvement. Following this introduction, the documentary film, "Negroes With Guns," will be screened to give an example of one such person--Robert F. Williams, Army and Marine Corps veteran, North Carolina NAACP leader and founder of the Black Armed Guard which fought the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1950s.