Space Race: African American Newspapers Respond to Sputnik and Apollo 11 Metadata

Metadata describes a digital item, providing (if known) such information as creator, publisher, contents, size, relationship to other resources, and more. Metadata may also contain "preservation" components that help us to maintain the integrity of digital files over time.

Available Formats

Dublin Core: XML Dublin Core: JSON Dublin Core: Text Dublin Core: RDF/XML UNTL: XML Access METS: XML

Title

  • Main Title Space Race: African American Newspapers Respond to Sputnik and Apollo 11

Creator

  • Author: Thompson, Mark A.
    Creator Type: Personal

Contributor

  • Chair: Dupont, Jill
    Contributor Type: Personal
    Contributor Info: Major Professor
  • Committee Member: Hagler, D. Harland
    Contributor Type: Personal
  • Committee Member: Moye, J. Todd
    Contributor Type: Personal

Publisher

  • Name: University of North Texas
    Place of Publication: Denton, Texas

Date

  • Creation: 2007-12
  • Digitized: 2008-03-26

Language

  • English

Description

  • Content Description: Using African American newspapers, this study examines the consensual opinion of articles and editorials regarding two events associated with the space race. One event is the Soviet launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The second is the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. Space Race investigates how two scientific accomplishments achieved during the Cold War and the civil rights movement stimulated debate within the newspapers, and that ultimately centered around two questions: why the Soviets were successful in launching a satellite before the US, and what benefits could come from landing on the moon. Anti-intellectualism, inferior public schools, and a lack of commitment on the part of the US government are arguments offered for analysis by black writers in the two years studied. This topic involves the social conditions of African Americans living within the United States during an era when major civil rights objectives were achieved. Also included are considerations of how living in a "space age" contributed to thoughts about civil rights, as African Americans were now living during a period in which science fiction was becoming reality. In addition, this thesis examines how two scientific accomplishments achieved during this time affected ideas about education, science, and living conditions in the U.S. that were debated by black writers and editors, and subsequently circulated for readers to ponder and debate. This paper argues that black newspapers viewed Sputnik as constituting evidence for an inferior US public school system, contrasted with the Soviet system. Due to segregation between the races and anti-intellectual antecedents in America, black newspapers believed that African Americans were an "untapped resource" that could aid in the Cold War if their brains were utilized. The Apollo moon landing was greeted with enthusiasm because of the universal wonder at landing on the moon itself and the prowess demonstrated by the collective commitment and organization necessary to achieve such an objective by decades end. However, consistently accompanying this adulation is disappointment that domestic problems were not given the same type of funding or national commitment.

Subject

  • Keyword: Race, space
  • Keyword: Civil Rights
  • Keyword: Cold War
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: Space race -- Press coverage -- United States.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: African American newspapers.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: African Americans -- Civil rights -- Press coverage.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: Civil rights movements -- Press coverage -- United States.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: United States -- Race relations -- Press coverage.
  • Library of Congress Subject Headings: Astronautics and state -- Press coverage -- United States.

Collection

  • Name: UNT Theses and Dissertations
    Code: UNTETD

Institution

  • Name: UNT Libraries
    Code: UNT

Rights

  • Rights Access: public
  • Rights License: copyright
  • Rights Holder: Thompson, Mark A.
  • Rights Statement: Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Resource Type

  • Thesis or Dissertation

Format

  • Text

Identifier

  • OCLC: 229098794
  • Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc5115

Degree

  • Degree Name: Master of Arts
  • Degree Level: Master's
  • Degree Discipline: History
  • Academic Department: Department of History
  • Degree Grantor: University of North Texas

Note

Back to Top of Screen