Looking Outwards to Look Inwards: The African American Press and its International Reporting During the Interwar Years

Abstract

During the interwar years the black press offered a substantial amount of commentary on international events. In 1919 with the conclusion of the First World War, African Americans observed the proceedings of the Paris Peace Conference and the First Pan-African Congress in London. These two assemblies of international delegates combined with the memories and experiences of African Americans from the war generated a newfound appreciation of global events among black Americans. While black-owned newspapers had focussed on worldwide stories prior to this moment, they had tended to exist on the periphery of the press’ focus. However, from 1919 onwards the black media in the United States demonstrated a new attitude to the international world. They looked outwards to include stories from abroad in their pages. Reports of racial justice or injustice in other countries permeated the pages of black-owned periodicals throughout the 1920s and the 1930s. During the first decade of the interwar years the black press developed their new outlook by reporting on a variety of different countries with large black or non-white populations. For the most part it commented on the positive aspects of the treatment of blacks in these places as a comparison to the treatment of blacks in the United States. Additionally, they also criticised the poor treatment of blacks abroad and observed racial injustice. Yet with the 1930s the black press’ reporting changed qualitatively as fascism and Italian imperial ambition challenged the freedom of blacks abroad. Black-owned newspapers broadened their perspective of the global in these years as they adopted an increasingly internationalist viewpoint. The result of the media’s focus on the international world and its inclusion of racial justice stories nurtured Pan- African feelings among African Americans for blacks abroad. Readers of black newspapers wrote in to express empathy or concern for people of colour abroad when their freedom came under threat. The black media’s international reporting did not necessarily directly result in material advances for justice in the United States. However, it did connect African Americans to people of colour worldwide while simultaneously nurturing their understanding of race relations globally.