The international context of the United States civil rights movement: The dynamics between racial policies and international politics, 1941--1960

The principal research question of this research is: Why did the American administration decide to intervene on behalf of African Americans immediately after World War II? I use political opportunity structure to analyze the complex trajectories of domestic policy and the international considerations of the American state.; I argue that the new global quest the United States embarked upon following World War II, combined with the Cold War competition with the Soviet Union, provided opportunities and new pressure points that helped push racial reforms to the top of the American government's policy agenda. Realizing these opportunities, U.S. civil rights activists and foreign critics of the U.S. used the Cold War as a lever to force concessions from a no-longer indifferent state.; Thus I conclude first, that the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations' decision to introduce civil rights reforms was explicitly pursues to enhance America's new international position and its moral leadership. I argue second, that civil rights leaders mobilized and utilized the international community to pressure the U.S. government for racial reforms. Finally, I argue that the international community exerted enough pressure on the United States to contribute significantly to ending legalized discrimination against, and segregation of, African Americans.