Forging Freedom, Speaking Soviet Anti-Racism: African Americans and Alternate Strategies of Fighting American Racial Apartheid

摘要

During the 1930s, African Americans of a wide array of socio-economic and political backgrounds served as invaluable architects and supporters of the Soviet Union's image as a society where racism was absent. The ill-fated Soviet film Black and White and the non-Communist African American press lend important insight into how and why African Americans spoke Soviet anti-racism. Owing to its intended directness in attacking the US racial regime, leaders in Moscow abandoned production of Black and White in August 1932; they wanted to avoid jeopardizing American diplomatic recognition, which then appeared imminent. This decision constituted the gravest threat to the Soviet Union's anti-racist image prior to the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact. Yet most of the African American cast members (the overwhelming majority of whom were not Communist Party members) used the controversy to publicly reaffirm the USSR's identity as a society intolerant of racism, while privately articulating their discontent to Soviet authorities. Although African American newspapers harshly criticized Soviet leaders for opportunism in canceling Black and White, they nonetheless provided a critical venue for many African Americans to speak Soviet anti-racism in the years following the controversy. Indeed, editors of the non-Communist African American press forged the Soviet Union's anti-racist image to bring the United States to account for the incessant, hostile treatment of its Black citizens.View full textDownload full textKeywordsComintern, African American press, Anti-Racism, Racism, Mezhrabpom, RapprochementRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03017605.2011.583090