Overview

Bookended by remarks from African American diplomats Walter C. Carrington and Charles Stith, the essays in this volume use close readings of speeches, letters, historical archives, diaries, memoirs of policymakers, and newly available FBI files to confront much-neglected questions related to race and foreign relations in the United States. Why, for instance, did African Americans profess loyalty and support for the diplomatic initiatives of a nation that undermined their social, political, and economic well-being through racist policies and cultural practices? Other contributions explore African Americans' history in the diplomatic and consular services and the influential roles of cultural ambassadors like Joe Louis and Louis Armstrong. The volume concludes with an analysis of the effects on race and foreign policy in the administration of Barack Obama. Groundbreaking and critical, African Americans in U.S. Foreign Policy expands on the scope and themes of recent collections to offer the most up-to-date scholarship to students in a range of disciplines, including U.S. and African American history, Africana studies, political science, and American studies.

Full Product Details

Author:   Linda Heywood ,  Allison Blakely ,  Charles Stith ,  Joshua C. Yesnowitz
Publisher:   University of Illinois Press
Imprint:   University of Illinois Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.426kg
ISBN:  

9780252080418

ISBN 10:   0252080416
Pages:   264
Publication Date:   26 January 2015
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments   vii Preface: Reflections of a Black Ambassador Walter C. Carrington   ix Introduction   1 Part I: Early African American Diplomatic Appointments: Contributions and Constraints 1   Blacks in the U.S. Diplomatic and Consular Services, 1869-1924   Allison Blakely   13 2   A New Negro Foreign Policy: The Critical Vision of Alain Locke and Ralph Bunche Jeffrey C. Stewart   30 3   Carl Rowan and the Dilemma of Civil Rights, Propaganda, and the Cold War   Michael L. Krenn   58 Part II: African American Participation in Foreign Affairs through Civil Society: Religious, Military, and Cultural Institutions in Foreign Policy 4   Reconstructions' Revival: The Foreign Mission Board of the National Baptist Convention and the Roots of Black Populist Diplomacy Brandi Hughes   83 5   White Shame/Black Agency: Race as a Weapon in Post-World War I Diplomacy Very Ingrid Grant   109 6   Goodwill Ambassadors: African American Athletes and U.S. Cultural Diplomacy, 1947-1968 Damion Thomas   129 7   The Paradox of Jazz Diplomacy: Race and Culture in the Cold War   Lisa Davenport   140 Part III: The Advent of the Age of Obama: African Americans and the Making of American Foreign Policy 8   African American Representatives in the United Nations: From Ralph Bunche to Susan Rice   Lorenzo Morris   177 9   Obama, African Americans, and Africans: The Double Vision   Ibrahim Sundiata   200 Epilogue: The Impact of African Americans on U.S. Foreign Policy   Charles R. Stith   213 Contributors   225 Index   231

Reviews

Sheds light on understudied but timely phenomena at the intersection of race and U.S. foreign relations and does so in new and exciting ways. Expands the chronological and thematic scopes of existing works, making it truly original. I am convinced that this book will intervene in many scholarly conversations for years to come by offering something truly unique. --George White, Jr., author of Holding the Line: Race, Racism, and American Foreign Policy toward Africa, 1953--1961 Several of this collection's chapters and topics will certainly spur new and further research in African American and US diplomatic history. African Americans in U.S. Foreign Policy will particularly interest those concerned with the history and challenges faced by African Americans involved in the making and execution of US foreign policy. --H-Net Review This thought-provoking work reveals the continuing complexity of African American foreign policy elites in shaping and executing American foreign policy. Highly recommended. --Choice

Sheds light on understudied but timely phenomena at the intersection of race and U.S. foreign relations and does so in new and exciting ways. Expands the chronological and thematic scopes of existing works, making it truly original. I am convinced that this book will intervene in many scholarly conversations for years to come by offering something truly unique. --George White, Jr., author of Holding the Line: Race, Racism, and American Foreign Policy toward Africa, 1953-1961

Author Information

Allison Blakely is Professor Emeritus of History at Boston University. Linda Heywood is a professor of African American studies and history at Boston University and author of Contested Power in Angola: 1840s to the Present. Charles Stith is an adjunct professor of international relations and director of the African Presidential Center at Boston University, and the author of Political Religion. Joshua C. Yesnowitz has been a lecturer in American politics and research methods at Boston University and Suffolk University.

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