The National Black Antiwar Antidraft Union (NBAWADU) was founded in February 1968 by

Gwen Patton Gwendolyn Marie Patton (born October 14, 1943) is a prominent civil rights activist and educator. Patton’s first steps into the civil rights movement were with the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) where she would help African Americans ...

to protest the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

and the draft. In order to do this, they allied themselves with two other prominent predominantly Black social movement organizations: the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...

and the

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...

(SNCC).

History

At their first conference to discuss the war, they passed a resolution that addressed the draft. At this conference they stated that it was necessary for the Black Movement in the United States that Black men not to leave for the draft or fight the war in Vietnam. They believed that the draft would lead to the total destruction of Blacks in the United States. The NBAWADU listed a few alternatives for the draft. The first was a mass organized, but not public, form of resistance. They ordered young Black men not to register when they turned eighteen years of age. They acknowledged that this was would be an illegal mass act, but they deemed it necessary for the survival of African Americans in the United States. Second, they called for Black lawyers in the United States to come to the defense of those who did not register, or they warned of consequences for these lawyers from the Black community. Third, they called for the members of local draft boards and Blacks surrounding them to cause such a disruption that they are unable to proceed with distributing drafts. Fourth, they called for Black males that were already registered to check in Series VIII on form 110 SS and the form certifying CO status. Fifth, they demanded that all information concerning counseling and legal facilities be accessible to Black high school and college students. Sixth, they called for an effort of Blacks to begin the ending of

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

. And seventh, they called for African Americans to resist the war by yelling "Hell No, I Won't Go!" This was an overall effort to increase Black resistance to the Vietnam war and the draft. In September 1969 in Chicago, fifteen members of NBAWADU temporarily disrupted draft calls by breaking into the Sixty-third Street

Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...

, and burning the 1-A, or draft eligible, files.

Notes and references

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History

Notes and references

See also