Why Black Nationalism and Cuban Communism were incompatible during an Age of Revolution, ca. 1950 – 1970

<p>The people of the African diaspora across the Americas had long looked for a way out of the situation that had been imposed on them since their arrival as slaves. Black nationalism was created in the early 1900s as a last-ditch effort by former slaves to take control of their lives, communities, and to assert political power in a pervasive environment of segregation. People like Robert F. Williams and Stokely Carmichael put forward a Black nationalist, self-defense agenda that was meant to counteract the violence that had been directed at African Americans over the years. Looking for a friend to help, they found an unlikely ally in Fidel Castro and his newly created revolutionary government that successfully challenged and defeated the U.S.-backed dictator. However, these movements had little in common and were only united in their criticism of the U.S. Soon, Black nationalists found that the rhetoric coming out of Cuba about a “racial paradise” was untrue, and it became apparent in time that the revolutionary regime had done no better a job in dealing with discrimination than did the U.S. government. Desperate to find an ally, African-Americans fell prey to the lure of Cuban propaganda that was directed at them with the goal of exploiting them in furtherance of their communist agenda.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA) in History

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis: EWU Only

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Year

2020

Author dc:creator

• Harmon, Kerwin E.

• Latin American History
• Political History
• Social History
• United States History

Statement dc:rights

• Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/614

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dc.ewu.edu:theses-1617