Black nationalism is the idea that black people from one country, or from several countries belong together, and that they have a common history and culture. Sometimes, people claim there is a black race. Black nationalism started in the United States as a response to McCarthyism. McCarthyism lasted approximately form the mid 1940s, to the mid 1950s. During McCarthyism, there was a strong anti-communist movement in the US. At the same time, there were many racist ideologies. In the United States, these tendencies focused on the white Anglo-Saxon protestants, who was seen as the ideal American citizen. Black nationalism wants to create a new nation for black Americans.