The African American Voice in U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II

Following World War II, America was witness to two great struggles. The first was on the international front and involved the fight for freedom around the globe, as millions of people in Asia and Africa rose up to throw off their European colonial masters. In the decades following 1945 dozens of new nations joined the ranks of independent countries. Following the Civil War, the African-American voice in U.S. foreign affairs continued to grow. In the late nineteenth century, a few African-Americans such as Frederick Douglass even served as U.S. diplomats to the "black republics" of Liberia and Haiti. When America began its overseas thrust during the 1890s, African-American opinion was divided. The Post-world War Ii Years Witnessed The Growth Of A Powerful Civil Rights Movement Among African Americans, Culminating In The Triumphs And Setbacks Of The 1960s. At The Same Time, However, African Americans Were Extending Their View Outward From The Shores Of The United States, Taking A Greater Interest In Foreign Affairs And Their Nation's Foreign Policy Than Ever Before.--jacket. The Selections In This Reader Focus On How And Why That Interest Developed, And What Impact African Americans Had On U.s. Diplomacy. They Demonstrate How The Fight For Civil Rights And Equality At Home Quickly Spilled Over Into Concerns Regarding Race And Foreign Policy. A Tremendous Interest In The Decolonization Of Africa, Efforts To Have An African American Voice Heard In The United Nations, Protests Against South African Apartheid, And Criticisms Of The Vietnam War Were All Indications That For Many African Americans Race Was Now A Global Issue.--jacket. American Negroes And U.s. Foreign Policy: 1937-1967 / Alfred O. Hero, Jr. -- American Black Leaders: The Response To Colonialism And The Cold War, 1943-1953 / James L. Roark -- Black Critics Of Colonialism And The Cold War / Mark Solomon -- Evolution Of The Black Foreign Policy Constituency / Brenda Gayle Plummer -- The Cold War: Its Impact On The Black Liberation Struggle Within The United States -- Parts I And Ii / Charles W. Cheng -- Josephine Baker, Racial Protest, And The Cold War / Mary L. Dudziak -- Ralph Bunche And Afro-american Participation In Decolonization / Robert Harris -- From Hope To Disillusion: African Americans, The United Nations, And The Struggle For Human Rights, 1944-1947 / Carol Anderson. Edited With An Introduction By Michael L. Krenn. Includes Bibliographical References. This volume focuses specifically on the role of African Americans in U.S. foreign policy since World War II, where the fight for civil rights and equality at home quickly spilled over into concerns regarding race and foreign policy. A tremendous interest in the decolonization of Africa, efforts to have an African American voice heard in the United Nations and in domestic debates about America's diplomacy, and protest against the Vietnam War were all indications that for many African Americans race was now a global issue.