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No “Illusion of Separation”: James L. Bevel, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War
Author(s) -
Mack Adam
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
peace and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1468-0130
pISSN - 0149-0508
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0130.00255
Subject(s) - alliance , political science , spanish civil war , vietnam war , civil rights , law , legislation , sociology , public administration
As a student activist and member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, James L. Bevel played a leading role in the civil rights movement. After the passage of the landmark federal civil rights legislation of 1964–65, Bevel promoted a new set of goals for the freedom struggle including ending United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Bevel's objections to the war grew from the belief, shared by other African–American leaders, that America's Vietnam policy could not be separated from issues of race and racism. Yet Bevel's antiwar stance remained unique. Driven by the depth of his antiwar sentiment as well as by a commitment to push nonviolent social action to its fullest potential, he increasingly worked to make peace the leading goal of the civil rights movement. Bevel's effort generated new levels of cooperation between civil rights and peace activists but also highlighted some of the barriers to a strong alliance between the two movements.