8. Explain how World War II promoted an aware - ness of the links between racism in the United States and colonialism around the world.

World War II was seen by the United States as a fight for freedom and against oppressive regimes. The aggressions perpetrated by Nazi Germany and imperialist Japan were being opposed for the sake of protecting the rights of people. That fact made the existence of racism within the United States and colonialism by the Allies (such as Britain and France) appear inconsistent with the principles for which they were fighting.

In his State of the Union speech in January, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously spoke of the "four freedoms" for which World War II was being fought. The four freedoms he named are freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These were the things he deemed essential for all people in the world to have. At the time of FDR's speech, World War II was raging and threatening such freedoms. The US was giving support to Britain in their war effort, and later that year the US itself would enter the war after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

Movements in the United States during World War II began to call attention to the inconsistency of fighting for other people's freedom when not all Americans were enjoying equal civil liberties. One example would be the Double V campaign. V stands for victory; the Double V campaign pushed for not only victory in World War II but also victory for black Americans at home. Victory over tyranny and aggression abroad wouldn't mean much if African Americans continued to be obstructed from having equal rights within their own country. After the war, in 1948, President Harry Truman issued an executive order that banned discrimination in the US military, saying, "there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." It was a first step in the direction of civil rights movements that would take place in the 1950s and '60s.