Blacks, Reds, and Russians : : Sojourners in Search of the Soviet Promise / / Joy Gleason Carew.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Rutgers University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Carew, Joy Gleason,
• Place / Publishing House: New Brunswick, NJ : : Rutgers University Press, , [2008]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2008
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (296 p.)

One of the most compelling, yet little known stories of race relations in the twentieth century is the account of blacks who chose to leave the United States to be involved in the Soviet Experiment in the 1920s and 1930s. Frustrated by the limitations imposed by racism in their home country, African Americans were lured by the promise of opportunity abroad. A number of them settled there, raised families, and became integrated into society. The Soviet economy likewise reaped enormous benefits from the talent and expertise that these individuals brought, and the all around success story became a platform for political leaders to boast their party goals of creating a society where all members were equal. In Blacks, Reds, and Russians, Joy Gleason Carew offers insight into the political strategies that often underlie relationships between different peoples and countries. She draws on the autobiographies of key sojourners, including Harry Haywood and Robert Robinson, in addition to the writings of Claude McKay, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes. Interviews with the descendents of figures such as Paul Robeson and Oliver Golden offer rare personal insights into the story of a group of emigrants who, confronted by the daunting challenges of making a life for themselves in a racist United States, found unprecedented opportunities in communist Russia.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. A Journey Begins -- Part I. The Fellow Travelers -- Chapter 2. Early Sojourners Claude McKay and Otto Huiswood: Shaping the "Negro Question" -- Chapter 3. Harry Haywood, KUTVA, and Training Black Cadres -- Chapter 4. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Soviet Experiment -- Part II. The Technical and Agricultural Specialists -- Chapter 5. Robert Robinson and the Technical Specialists -- Chapter 6. George Washington Carver, Oliver Golden, and the Soviet Experiment -- Chapter 7. The Agricultural Specialists Journey to the Soviet Union -- Part III. The Artists and Intellectuals -- Chapter 8. Langston Hughes and the Black and White Film Group -- Chapter 9. Paul Robeson's Search for a Society Free of Racism -- Part IV. The Expatriates and New Sojourners -- Chapter 10. The Expatriates: The Purges, the War Years, and Beyond -- Chapter 11. William "Bill" Davis, the American National Exhibit, and U.S. Public Diplomacy -- Chapter 12. The Cold War, Solidarity Building, and the Recruitment of New Sojourners -- Appendix: Family Lines of Sojourners/Expatriates -- Notes -- Bibliographical Essay: A Survey of Selected Sources -- Index -- About the Author