Both opponents and allies were easy to come by in the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements. The African-American Churches of America's South were a great ally. Various aspects of arising student movements proved to be powerful allies. Southern Democrats stood as opponents, wary of standing in too much opposition. The extreme of opposition fell with the Ku Klux Klan. A powerful force arose in the late 1940s that proved to be both a powerful ally and a force of opposition that would last decades. This international force was the Cold War. International conflict between the ideals of American society and the Russian Communist State influenced all aspects of life during that time period, particularly the movements of African-American struggle.

The period preceding the Cold War was a dark time for African-Americans in the South. Law was upheld by racist courts or by terrorist organizations, like the Ku Klux Klan. Resistance to this way of life was futile in most cases. Since opposition forces controlled their courts and legislative bodies in the region, there was no local, political recourse. Furthermore, individual resistance was normally met with the punishment of a lynch mob. Ultimately then the Southern Blacks looked to the federal government to gain support. Among other reasons, since the government was not faced with ideological warfare on an international scale there was no pressure to listen to the underclasses of society. Though Anti-lynching law was proposed numerous times, it went ignored by a string of presidents. There was no intention of enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment, and de-legitimize Jim Crow laws. There were limited federal attempts to halt the practices of terrorist organizations that preyed on African-American communities, especially after the abandonment of Reconstruction in 1877. These are all things that an international community, interested in presenting the beauties of American liberties, would look to alter in later years.

Eventually America's mainstream viewed Communism as a great threat to America. At this time anyone who was tied to communist ideology was target for severe scrutiny and legal redress. Early in the Cold War period, many Civil Rights activists were aligned with communist thought, truthfully or not. This alignment silenced many that sought social equality. Paul Robeson is a clear example of this silencing. A singer, athlete, lawyer, and activist (among many other trades) entered ideological scrutiny as early as 1947. That is when his silencing began. Speaking engagements of his were cancelled. His passport was taken. He was removed from the memories of Rutgers, the university he attended. He was removed from mainstream political thought. Under the Congressional leadership of Joseph McCarthy and his House Un-American Activities Committee many who were advocates of social change and equality were silenced. This chilling-effect on American racial discourse would remain for many years, even after the Red Scare was ostensibly over.

J. Edgar Hoover continued in the fight against communist infiltration as the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He adopted a program of close surveillance of suspected members of the communist party. Many times this included those that called for racial equality. Dr. Martin Luther King is a notable example of FBI scrutiny. While engaging in public ministry, active against racial segregation, FBI agents kept constant surveillance on the leader. Phone taps were one of the many ways he was followed by the FBI. Another notable example is Robert F. Williams, president of the Union County (NC) chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Though an FBI file was started on Williams as early as 1943 as a possible communist sympathizer due to activities in the military, tactics were escalated when Williams enter the national spotlight of the struggle for Black freedom. When Williams was able to expose Union County's 'Kissing Case' to all the world, the FBI worked with members of North Carolina's executive branch to provide information in an attempt to discredit the leader. Through a liaison with close contact to the FBI, the governor was given access to Williams' files.

Eventually, fears of communism became a part of internal struggles in these organizations. During the controversy over Williams' suspension from the NAACP over comments made about 'armed self-reliance', Thurgood Marshall, a respected figure of the NAACP, used the fears of communism to separate Williams from the national organization. Marshall met with members of the FBI, and attempted to reveal information that may help the government agency discredit Williams. Allegedly Marshall told agents of the New York Office of the FBI that Williams should be investigated. Marshall had a history of inter-organizational red baiting, however Marshall most likely already knew that the FBI had any information he had on Williams'. It was likely an attempt by the national office to distance itself from a vitriolic figure, playing on insurgent, communist fears.

By the peak of communist fear, America was in its second international defense of freedom. The first was freedom from Fascism and Nazism, surrounded by racist rhetoric and a removal of civil liberties. These had been defeated in World War II. The new freedom was from totalitarian rule of a Communist/Soviet State, preventing self-determination. This freedom's security was not settled yet on an international sphere. Both of these fights however gave local freedom fighters justification in a global philosophy. When African-American soldiers returned from wars in Germany, Italy, and the Pacific, they endured great hardship ensure the rights of others when those rights were not extended to them individually. Men like Robert Williams returned wanting to continue the international fight for human rights. He intended to bring the fight from Europe and Southeast Asia to Union County. This became a rallying point for many leaders of the freedom struggle in the immediate post-war era. When a new war emerged promoting global freedom, those immersed in the freedom struggle of the South had another galvanizing international struggle.

This ideological war also provided for members of the civil rights movement international leverage in US policy. The 'Kissing Case' of Monroe exemplifies this. In 1958 two African-Americans boys joined three white girls in a game. The girls went to the boys, sat on their laps, and a kiss was exchanged between the two. When the adult white community heard of this outrage the two young boys were in a great deal of trouble. Luckily for the children the Monroe police found Fuzzy Simpson, 8, and Hanover Thompson, 10, dragging a red wagon full of empty soda bottles, before mobs of angry white citizens. The children were held in the local jail and tortured with constant threats of death. One night, local officers put on costumes resembling the KKK and entered the area of the jail that the children were held. In later interviews, the promise of immediate murder was obvious to them. The police removed the costumes with ferocious laughs. Finally the local judge held hearings concerning the case. Separate, but equal in the eyes of the judge, white members of the community presented evidence, court was dismissed, then the black community members were able to present their evidence. After hearing the evidence as such, the judge condemned the children to a juvenile delinquent facility. They were to remain their until they were 21, barring good behavior. Robert Williams stepped in on the boy's defense. He used available sources to present the case to a worldwide audience. The worst fears of American foreign policy were revealed when the newspapers of Russia were able to speak truthfully about outright injustice against the Black community in the United States. In an analysis of the Committee to Combat Racial Injustice (CCRI), an organization founded in reaction to this situation by Robert Williams among others, Timothy B. Tyson said, "The organizers of CCRI shared a hope that the lever of worldwide publicity and the fulcrum of Cold War politics would lit them to victory, both in winning the release of the boys and in advancing the African-American freedom movement."[1] Their work to spread the news of Monroe eventually lead to demonstrations at American embassies across Europe, and the scrutiny of news organizations from many communist, and non-communist, nations.

Other than providing news-stories to other countries to help in the Black Power struggle, Communist nations would often return the favor. Radio Free Dixie was introduced in Havana, Cuba after Robert Williams fled there in exile in the 1960s. The Cuban government gave him a media outlet to promote the struggle for Civil Rights. Radio Free Dixie emitted broadcasts that spread all the way to Canada, but it was aimed at the South. Robert Williams used his hour of airtime ever Friday night for jazz, rock-and-roll, freedom songs, and rousing oration. The Cuban government gave Robert Williams 50,000 watts and their political support. It was through Radio Free Dixie that Williams was able to garner national support. Also while in Cuba, Williams was able to restart his newspaper, The Crusader. Cuban print-makers helped produce the copies while associates in Canada would help distribute the newspaper to America, particularly where the African-American freedom struggle fought its hardest battles. Eventually, ideological differences with the revolutionary government reduced his broadcast power. With support of other worldwide, Communist struggles, Williams was able to travel to Vietnam during their nationalist struggle and report to American troops his brand of propaganda. He was then able to move to the People's Republic of China as a guest of Mao Zedong who leant his support to the struggles against racial discrimination in America, which was influenced by Williams himself. In China Williams was again able to return to production of the Crusader distributing his message of racial equality even while in exile.

The period of ideological war between the Soviet Union and the United States was also distinguished as a de-colonial period in world history. Because of this, the battles fought by Robert Williams and other Black leaders could be tied to global fights. A State department report concedes that the international struggle "has followed a color line, white against non-whites, with Russia seeking to be recognized as the champions as non-whites."[2] In the Cold War fight to gain the most allies, the United States could not afford to alienate 'non-whites'. It could not allow this delineation to take place, and there was evidence to many that this division was taking place inside the US's own borders. Even in the early 1960s, long before others would champion the Black Nationalist movement, Williams would connect the South to the emerging Third World in comparable anticolonial struggles. His examples were primarily African nations. In the Crusader, Williams argued, "our struggle for black liberation in imperialist America was part and parcel of the international struggle."[3] When the Black Power movement emerged later in the 1960s this rhetoric was invoked often. According to The Basis of Black Power authored by newly-elected SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) president Stokely Charmical, "The broad masses of black people react to American society in the same manner as colonial peoples react to the West in Africa and Latin America, and had the same relationship - that of the colonized toward the colonizer."[4] Even later the Black Panther Party adopted similar rhetoric. In a flyer called Defend the Ghetto, the New York chapter of the party calls blacks to defend their homes and communities against American imperialism. The comparison of the freedom struggle in the US to the anticolonial movements of Africa in particular was able to combine political and cultural Black Nationalism into a powerful force.

Finally, Communist countries were a great support to the safety of individual members of the Black Freedom movement. Whether or not the charges against the individuals were legitimate, neighboring Communist nation Cuba lent its hand to many freedom fighters in need of refuge. After fleeing from the courts of Monroe, Robert Williams ended up in Cuba, which offered support to the alleged criminal. He was later able to find exile in the People's Republic of China, before he was able to return to the United States. Many others used similar tactics to avoid police action. After serving six years in prison in connection with the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper, Assata Shakur escaped prison and eventually fled to Cuba where she has received political protection since 1986. Attempts by the US government in the extradition process have resorted to soliciting the Pope's assistance on a recent tour of Cuba.

There were many forces that affect the Civil Rights Movements and the Black Nationalist movements during their struggles in the past century. Many directly sought to either build or destroy. The Ku Klux Klan destroyed life in order to preserve its ideas of white superiority. Many leaders of African-American churches directed the movement and influenced supporters. The federal government played a direct role on for both sides of the movement. Arguably, one of the most influential outside forces was the international policy of the United States during the movement. When international policy wasn't affected by racial equality at home or abroad nothing was done about the injustices. Once the government was forced to defend freedom abroad, it was also taken to task at home. It moved in two directions. One was to discredit the work of those fighting for civil liberties as communists. The other was to attempt to align itself with the 'non-white' world, which Russia seemed to hold grasp over, by changing domestic policies. Outside pressure was also used during this time. Those fighting the struggles in the South used foreign press to promote their cause to others and to discredit the United States. Finally, the international oppositional nations were used as a support system for those who dissented within the United States.

[1] Timothy B. Tyson, Radio Free Dixie: Robert Williams and the Roots of Black Power (Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 1999) 117.

[2] Ibid. 51.

[3] Ibid.196.

[4] Stokely Charmical "The Basis of Black Power" quoted in Taking it to the Streets. Ed. Alexander Bloom and Wini Breines. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003) 121.