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Various literary texts written by African American authors, specifically from the 1920s through the 1960s, portray the purposes and effectiveness of blacks and whites working in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), and individuals who promote interracial fellowship and equal rights. I contend that historical oppression---the psychological aftereffects of slavery on both blacks and whites---plays both subconscious and conscious roles within these individuals, thereby limiting their ability to work together effectively. In support of this idea, I engage Frantz Fanon's Black Skin, White Masks and Albert Memmi's The Colonizer and the Colonized to discuss inferiority complexes among blacks and superiority complexes among whites. Other factors that affect interracial coalition for equality are capitalism, white liberalism, intellectualism, and assimilationism. Jessie Fauset's There is Confusion, Rudolph Fisher's The Walls of Jericho, George Schuyler's Black No More: A Novel , and Carl Offord's The White Face depict the effectiveness of the NAACP as a vessel to assist blacks in securing equal rights in the United States. Chester Himes' Lonely Crusade and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man comment on the methods the CPUSA uses to increase black membership in the organization in order to give the impression of fostering black equality. I also examine interracial social situations and educational opportunities for blacks in Ann Petry's The Street, Richard Wright's Native Son, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, and Kristin Hunter's The Landlord, as well as interracial working conditions in William Attaway's Blood on the Forge and Chester Himes' If He Hollers Let Him Go and Lonely Crusade.
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