Ebook: A breath of freedom : the civil rights struggle, African American GIs, and Germany

This book, developed from an award-winning research project, examines the experience of African-American GIs in Germany since 1945 and the unique insights they provide into the civil rights struggle at home and abroad. Because of the American military occupation after World War II, America's unresolved civil rights agenda was exposed to world-wide scrutiny as never before. America's ambitious efforts to democratize German society after the defeat of Nazism also meant that West Germany was exposed to American ideas of freedom and democracy to a much larger degree than many other countries. The politicization and radicalization of African-American GIs over civil rights took on a particular significance in light of Germany's central role in US strategic thinking and its symbolic importance as the battle ground between two competing superpowers. While the effects of the African-American civil rights movement reverberated across the globe, Germany represents a special case that illuminates a remarkable period in American and world history.