Warren G. Moses History Lecture: Douglas Brinkley

[FULL STORY]

World War II had a profound effect on the world politically and economically, but the social changes it inspired are every bit as significant. In America, the war laid bare inequalities and discrimination on the home front and gave birth to the modern Civil Rights movement.

For the 18th annual Warren G. Moses History Lecture, noted historian Dr. Douglas Brinkley explored the intersection of WWII and the fight for racial equality by telling the stories of four prominent civil rights activists who were also war veterans.

Brinkley is a professor of history at Rice University, former professor at Tulane and UNO, bestselling author, and commentator on CNN. In front of an audience of Upper School students, members of the Moses family, and special guests, Brinkley told the stories of Medgar Evers, Hosea Williams, Sylvester McCauley, and Cesar Chavez, who each did “double duty” by serving their country in WWII and then crusading against injustice back home.

After they returned home to the Jim Crow South at the end of the war, Brinkley explained, Evers, Williams, and McCauley were so outraged and insulted by their treatment by racist whites that each became an activist for racial justice. Williams famously became a right-hand man to Dr. Martin Luther King and Evers lost his life for his involvement with the NAACP in Mississippi. Another prominent activist, Rosa Parks, was inspired to action by witnessing the treatment her brother, Sylvester McCauley, had received upon his return. Outside of the South, Cesar Chavez, a Navy veteran, credited his military experience with instilling in him the discipline to fight for the rights of migrant farm workers in the American Southwest, which had its own racist laws and practices primarily targeting those of Mexican descent. 

The topic of WWII and race aligned with the theme for the Moses Scholar Essay Competition, which asked students to compare and contrast the establishment of internment camps for people of Japanese descent in America during WWII with a recent ban on travel and immigration to this country from six Muslim-majority countries. This year’s winners were Rajan Kumar Agrawal ’18 and Laura Sophia Arenas ’18.

After the lecture, Brinkley spent his time visiting classrooms, speaking with teachers and the Moses Essay award winners over lunch, and addressing the 7th grade, which will be visiting the National WWII Museum on March 30.