African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War
Welcome to the virtual library of materials published about African-American involvement in the Vietnam War. "Involvement" is defined as those who served and those who protested. Although this site represents a sizable collection of full-text articles, papers, other documents (including government documents), Web links, sound files, photographs, speeches, poetry, and film references, the majority of the site consists of annotated bibliographic citations.


Protest on the Homefront

 

Those That Served

 

Special Features

 
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THE BACKLASH BLUES
by Langston Hughes

Mister Backlash, Mister Backlash,
Just who do you think I am?
You raise my taxes, freeze my wages,
Send my son to Vietnam.

You give me second class houses,
Second class schools.
Do you think that colored folks
Are just second class fools?

When I try to find a job
To earn a little cash,
All you got to offer
Is a white backlash.

But the world is big,
Big and bright and round--
And it's full of folks like me who are
Black, Yellow, Beige, and Brown.

Mister Backlash, Mister Backlash,
What do you think I got to lose?
I'm gonna leave you, Mister Backlash,
Singing your mean old backlash blues.

You're the one
Will have the blues.
not me--
Wait and see!

SOURCE: Congress. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and other Internal Security Laws. Testimony of Robert F. Williams. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1970.

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Kief Schladweiler
Librarian, NYC


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