The Path to the Greater, Freer, Truer World: Southern Civil Rights and Anticolonialism, 1937–1955 (New Perspectives on the History of the South)

“A fresh and engaging study that illuminates the important, related, yet neglected histories of the Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Council on African Affairs. Especially noteworthy is the perceptive treatment of the linkages between these related organizations’ domestic and international politics.”—Waldo E. Martin, coauthor of __Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans with Documents__ “A welcome addition to the growing body of literature that examines the interplay between civil rights and international affairs.”—John Kirk, author of __Redefining the Color Line: Black Activism in Little Rock, Arkansas, 1940-1970__ “Swindall puts the ‘long civil rights’ movement on a dynamic new world map. Her meticulous use of archival materials opens up new roots and routes for scholars of American race history.”—Bill Mullen, author of __Afro-Orientalism__ The Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Council on African Affairs were two organizations created as part of the early civil rights efforts to address race and labor issues during the Great Depression. They fought within a leftist, Pan-African framework against disenfranchisement, segregation, labor exploitation, and colonialism. By situating the development of the SNYC and the Council on African Affairs within the scope of the long civil rights movement, Lindsey Swindall reveals how these groups conceptualized the U.S. South as being central to their vision of a global African diaspora. Both organizations illustrate well the progressive collaborations that maintained an international awareness during World War II. Cleavages from anti-radical repression in the postwar years are also evident in the dismantling of these groups when they became casualties of the early Cold War. By highlighting the cooperation that occurred between progressive activists from the Popular Front to the 1960s, Swindall adds to our understanding of the intergenerational nature of civil rights and anticolonial organizing. By examining the development of the Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Council on African Affairs—two early civil rights organizations that have been overlooked and marginalized by the historiography of the period—Lindsey Swindall reveals how the discourse on civil rights in the southern United States also employed an internationalist, anticolonial agenda during the mid-twentieth century. The escalating spread of fascism before World War II coupled with the economic crisis of the Great Depression and the mobilization of the Communist Party against segregation and colonialism helped expand the international awareness of many African American activists like Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Du Bois.The SNYC and the Council on African Affairs were part of the efforts to address race and labor issues within a leftist framework, employing a global, Pan-African perspective to fight against disenfranchisement, segregation, labor exploitation, and colonialism. Swindall highlights the cooperation that occurred between progressive activists involved in coalition-building during the Popular Front and also adds to our understanding of the intergenerational nature of civil rights and labor organizing. Furthermore, she shows the ways in which pockets of resistance survived McCarthyism and reconnected later with activists in the 1960s. Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 14 1. Origins 31 2. The World at War 78 3. The Cold War Descends 118 4. Cold War Consequences: The Council on African Affairs in Decline, 1950–1955 159 Epilogue 190 Appendix 194 Notes 206 Sources Consulted 234 Index 246 A 246 B 246 C 247 D 247 E 247 F 248 G 248 H 248 I 248 J 248 K 248 L 248 M 249 N 249 O 249 P 249 R 249 S 250 T 250 U 251 V 251 W 251 Y 251 By examining the development of the Southern Negro Youth Congress and the Council on African Affairs - two early civil rights organisations that have been overlooked and marginalised by the historiography of the period - Lindsey Swindall reveals how the discourse on civil rights in the southern United States also employed an internationalist, anticolonial agenda during the mid-twentieth century. Swindall closely examines the work of two organizations, the Southern Negro Youth Congress (1937-1949) and the Council on African Affairs (1937-1955), which employed a global, Pan-African perspective and were part of the mid-twentieth century efforts to address race and labor issues from a leftist view