Internationalizing the African American Civil Rights Movement: The NAACP’s 1947 United Nations Petition “An Appeal to the World” in the Context of Decolonization

Abstract

Looking at the history of the modern African American civil rights movement, the NAACP played a central role and has continued to speak for people of color in the United States up to today. In 1947, the NAACP’s petition to the United Nations actively brought the problems of African Americans to the international stage, seeking racial equality and civil rights. This article examines the domestic and international background of the petition, its preparation process, and the main points of An Appeal to the World. It aims to trace how the NAACP promoted the internationalization of the civil rights movement, with special attention to the petition edited by W. E. B. Du Bois. It also explores the response to this activity in the context of the wave of colonial independence, in order to better understand how African Americans struggled for racial equality and civil rights, and how the global human rights agenda developed under decolonization.