Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Throughout the 1950s African Americans believed the decolonizing nation of Ghana gave the world a potent symbol of black ability to wield power fairly, peacefully, and effectively in modern political, economic, and social systems.Black Americans therefore attempted to use Ghana as a symbol of black modernity in the civil rights movement to convince American whites they should abandon the racist assumption that racial and social chaos would erupt upon the granting of full black civil rights.Such transnational racial identifications with Ghana also led numerous African American intellectuals, journalists, leaders, and organizations to pressure, often successfully, the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to accord more attention and importance to Ghana, and to its leader Kwame Nkrumah.Among other events in the U.S.-Ghanaian relationship during the 1950s, African Americans played a role in causing Nkrumah's 1951 and 1958 visits to the United States and Vice President Richard Nixon's trip to the March 1957 independence ceremonies in Accra.Over the course of the decade African Americans also played a role in shifting American foreign policy in Africa toward at least a balance between European desires and African aspirations.Eisenhower and his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles largely left policy development on Africa to assistant secretaries of state and desk officers until the very end of the decade.African American leaders were constantly in contact with these mid-level officials, who often took black American views into account when thinking about the American approach to His encouragement and suggested directions for the study have made the result all the more fruitful.I would also like to thank Dr. Muhammad, Dr. Jellison, and Dr. Brobst for their input and involvement.Numerous archivists, librarians, and others have helped me immensely throughout this process, especially as they fielded multiple requests for materials.
Author: Kevin E. Grimm
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Council
OpenAlex ID: W2296157200