The African-American Experience During the Vietnam Conflict
Lesson Plan on Race in America
This lesson can serve as a topical content segue way from the Vietnam Conflict to the second phase of the 1960s Civil Rights revolution in which issues of de facto discrimination (busing, housing discrimination) displaced their de jure parallels (segregated schooling, voting restrictions, etc.) as the focus of the movement. Martin Luther King Jr.'s shift in emphasis was best demonstrated by the Poor People's Campaign (see "The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV").
The documents in this lesson help to illustrate this transition and its relationship to the experience of black soldiers and sailors in Vietnam. The lesson should take one class period to discuss the material, and another to present student analysis and reaction to the documents.
Students should already possess an understanding of the central issue confronting African-American soldiers and sailors who served in Vietnam, namely the paradox of fighting to protect American freedom overseas in spite of unequal treatment and opportunity at home. You may wish to assign the reading "War Within War" as background.
This lesson could be used as an extension to the Choices unit The Limits of Power: the United States in Vietnam.
Objectives: Students will:
- explore incidents and attitudes toward race during the Vietnam War in the United States military with an emphasis on the U.S. Navy
- compare and contrast the views of the sailors and officers in incidents aboard the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation using primary source accounts
- analyze Martin Luther King's "Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence" address
- assess the efforts of the U.S. Navy to reform itself from within regarding race and the subsequent problems faced in translating rules, policies, and regulations into the actual day-to-day behaviors and attitudes of white sailors.
Handouts:
"MLK: Beyond Vietnam"
"Admiral Zumwalt on Equal Opportunity in the Navy"
"Sailors Write Home"
"Racial Incidents Onboard the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Constellation"
"Admiral Zumwalt after the Incidents"
In the Classroom:
Day One
1. Getting Started—Distribute to each student the "Beyond Vietnam," the address by Martin Luther King. Allow sufficient time for the students to read the excerpts (or assign as homework the night before). Important passages are highlighted.
2. Making Connections—In the large group setting, introduce a discussion of the speech by asking open-ended questions such as "What do you think MLK is talking about?" and "What possible problems or differences were African-Americans facing during the war compared to life at home?" Discuss the paradox of the African-American military experience in Vietnam and the soldiers' return to American life. Explain to students how in this lesson they will look at and compare how experiences during the war led many African-Americans to push for more civil rights at home.
3. Reading Primary Sources—Divide students into small groups and hand out copies of the next two readings: "Admiral Zumwalt on Equal Opportunity in the Navy" and "Sailors Write Home". Ask groups to respond to the Focus Questions listed below. If time allows, give groups the opportunity to share their thoughts. Alternatively, instructors might consider dividing the class in two, making each group responsible for reading and understanding one document. The focus questions could then be used to set up a discussion between the reality of life in the military and the reality presented to the American people. Why was it different? What reasons would lead the US Navy to justify their story?
Focus Questions:
a) What is Zumwalt trying to accomplish? Why?
b) Compare Zumwalt's goals with what Advenger and Brown describe in their letters home. If you were one of their parents, how might you respond to their letters?
c) How should the Navy respond to this situation?
Day Two
1. Analysis of Events—Provide students with copies of the official incident report regarding the Kitty Hawk and Constellation incidents. Important sections are highlighted Read the report out loud in groups or as a class. Ask students to comment on the events described.
2. Conclusions—As a whole group, address the focus questions below. If you divided your class into two sections on Day One, remind students to consider the questions from the point of view of their assigned perspective—the Navy or a sailor. Putting the questions on the overhead might help to prod discussion.
Focus Questions:
a) How did the Navy see the incident? Is this an act of discrimination?
b) Is the report correct when it sees the problems on the Kitty Hawk as isolated?
c) How does the story of the Kitty Hawk illustrate the relationship between de jure and de facto discrimination?
d) Which of the two is easier for an institution to confront?
e) Did the Navy do the right thing?
f) In what ways did the problems aboard the Kitty Hawk and Constellation represent American society during the late 1960s and early 1970s?
Homework:
Each student is to prepare one of the following projects using the original documents for presentation to the class the following day.
- Assume the role of a U.S. Senator. Give a brief speech (3-5 minutes) explaining your position regarding the problem of racism in the Vietnam military conflict. In this speech agree or disagree with King's position and explain why.
- Assume the role of a U.S. Senator. Write a memo to your staff explaining the points you want to raise in your office's replies to the mothers and fathers of African-American soldiers and sailors in Vietnam. Make it clear whether you feel the U.S. should remain in Vietnam and, if so, why African-American families should support the war.
- You are a Pentagon official assigned to answer a letter from Terry Advenger or Lonnie Brown's mother. She feels the Navy has betrayed her son and people. Respond.
- You are an aide to LBJ. Write a letter to Martin Luther King in response to his "Beyond Vietnam" speech.
- Draw a political cartoon that either supports or criticizes the Navy during these incidents.
RESOURCES USED / PRIMARY and SECONDARY SOURCE CITATIONS
AFRICAN-AMERICAN MILITARY SERVICE IN VIETNAM
"War within War" by James Maycock in The Guardian (9/15/2001)
KING ON VIETNAM (1967)
"Beyond Vietnam -- A Call to Conscience" from The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- The Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr. as cited in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project, Stanford University
Secondary source analysis: "The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV" in Media Beat (1/4/95) -- Jeff Cohen and Norman Solom, digitally available through FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting)
ADMIRAL ZUMWALT ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN THE NAVY (1970)
"Z-Gram No. 66 — Equal Opportunity" (12/17/70) as cited in Navy Historical Archives
Department of the Navy — Naval Historical Center
805 Kidder Breese SE — Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC 20374-5060Racial Incidents Onboard USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) and USS Constellation (CVA-64) in 1972.
U.S. Congress. House. Committee on Armed Forces. Report by the Special Subcommittee on Disciplinary Problems in the US Navy. 92nd Cong., 2d sess., 1973, H.A.S.C. 92-81. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1973. -- January 2, 1973Advenger, Terry as quoted in Local Black Sailors (1972), cited in Graham, Herman III
"Black, and Navy Too: How Vietnam Era African-American Sailors Asserted Manhood through Black Power Militancy" in Journal of Men's Studies, v9, 2001
ADMIRAL ZUMWALT AFTER THE KITTY HAWK INCIDENT (1972)
"Z-Gram No. 117 — Good Order and Discipline" (11/14/72) as cited in Navy Historical Archives
Department of the Navy — Naval Historical Center
805 Kidder Breese SE — Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC 20374-5060
This
lesson was developed by:
Bill
Deardoff—Burke High School, Omaha, Nebraska
Matt
Heys—Millard West High School, Omaha, Nebraska
Angela
Nichols—South High School, Omaha, Nebraska
Sonya
Stejskal—Millard West high school, Omaha, Nebraska