Vincent J. Intondi, “African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement” (Stanford UP, 2015)

For the first time, African Americans Against the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Colonialism, and the Black Freedom Movement (Stanford University Press, 2015) tells the compelling story of those black activists who fought for nuclear disarmament by connecting the nuclear issue with the fight for racial equality. Early on, blacks in America saw the use of atomic bombs as a racial issue, asking why such enormous resources were being spent building nuclear arms instead of being used to improve impoverished communities. Black activists’ fears that race played a role in the decision to deploy atomic bombs only increased when the U.S. threatened to use nuclear weapons in Korea in the 1950s and Vietnam a decade later. For some, the nuclear issue was connected to colonialism the U.S. obtained uranium ore used to produce fissile material from the Belgian controlled Congo and the French tested their nuclear weapons in the Sahara.

By expanding traditional research in the history of the nuclear disarmament movement the author reveals the links between the black freedom movement in America and issues of global peace. From Langston Hughes through Lorraine Hansberry to President Obama, African Americans Against the Bomb offers an eye-opening account of the continuous involvement of African Americans who recognized that the rise of nuclear weapons was a threat to the civil rights of all people.

Author Vincent Intondi is an Associate Professor of History and Director of the Institute for Race, Justice, and Community Engagement at Montgomery College, and formerly the Director of Research for American University’s Nuclear Studies Institute. His academic research focuses on the intersection of race and nuclear weapons. In 2016, Intondi began working with the Union of Concerned Scientists exploring new efforts to expand the nuclear disarmament movement to include more diverse voices, specifically from the black community. Beyond African Americans Against the Bomb, Intondi is currently working on a new book project, which will examine the famous June 12, 1982 nuclear disarmament march in New York City.

James P. Stancil II is an educator, multimedia journalist, and writer. He is also the President and CEO of Intellect U Well, Inc. a Houston-area NGO dedicated to increasing the joy of reading and media literacy in young people. He can be reached most easily through his LinkedIn page or at james.stancil@intellectuwell.org.

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