African Americans, the Civil Rights Movement, and East Germany, 1949-1989

View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by eScholarship@BC Friends of Freedom, Allies of Peace: African Americans, the Civil Rights Movement, and East Germany, 1949-1989 Author: Natalia King Rasmussen Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104045 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2014 Copyright is held by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of History FRIENDS OF FREEDOM, ALLIES OF PEACE: AFRICAN AMERICANS, THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, AND EAST GERMANY, 1949-1989 A dissertation by NATALIA KING RASMUSSEN submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 © copyright by NATALIA DANETTE KING RASMUSSEN 2014 “Friends of Freedom, Allies of Peace: African Americans, the Civil Rights Movement, and East Germany, 1949-1989” Natalia King Rasmussen Dissertation Advisor: Devin O. Pendas This dissertation examines the relationship between Black America and East Germany from 1949 to 1989, exploring the ways in which two unlikely partners used international solidarity to achieve goals of domestic importance. Despite the growing number of works addressing the black experience in and with Imperial Germany, Nazi Germany, West Germany, and contemporary Germany, few studies have devoted attention to the black experience in and with East Germany. In this work, the outline of this transatlantic relationship is defined, detailing who was involved in the friendship, why they were involved, and what they hoped to gain from this alliance. This dissertation argues that the GDR’s ruling party utilized the relationship as a means of authenticating claims of East German anti-racism, a component of the Party’s efforts to acquire legitimacy and diplomatic recognition from the international community in the wake of World War II, the Holocaust, and the division of Germany. African American radical leftists saw in East Germany a means of support and solidarity in the struggle for rights at home, as well as a society that was allegedly racism-free, upon which they could model their own attempts to eradicate racism in the US. Utilizing a transnational framework and analyzing government documents, newspapers, correspondence, photographs, and autobiographies, this work probes the ways in which two groups, pushed to the margins, sought to navigate the geopolitics of an ideologically-charged world. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction…………………………………………………………………1 The “Other” Germany and the “Other” America Chapter 2………………………………………………………………………………..25 On Blackness with Blacks: German Perceptions of Blackness Prior to 1945 Chapter 3………………………………………………………………………………..68 On Parallel Tracks: Genesis of a Friendship between Black America and East Germany, 1949-1959 Chapter 4………………………………………………………………………………107 Bridge over the Ocean: The Growth of the African American-East German Friendship, 1960-1975 Chapter 5………………………………………………………………………………165 Disintegration: The Friendship in Decline, 1972-1989 Chapter 6: Conclusion………………………………………………………………...204 A Racism Retrospective Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………...218 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank, first and foremost, my daughter. Your infectious laughter and joy was always a much-needed reminder to take a breath and enjoy the moment. To my husband, your support and encouragement far exceeded anything I ever could have asked for, and this dissertation is certainly better because of it. To my mother and younger sister, your pep-talks, inspiration, and support helped to push me through each stage of this project. The pride that the two of you have always felt for my accomplishments is an overwhelming reminder of why I am incredibly lucky to be a part of the “King Women.” To my friends and family who cheered me on during this whole process (especially my Cyr family and Judi Ekman)—thank you. While it is my name that appears on this work, there are so many of you who are responsible for this dissertation! For that, I am forever indebted to each and every one of you. To my Boston College family, thank you! Megan Myers, you were my “big sister” in the department, helping me navigate graduate school, and I am incredibly grateful. I certainly dodged a bullet or two with your helpful advice! Rachel Ball- Phillips, thank you for reading early versions of my work and not only providing input but reassurance as well. No matter where we were—Boston, Dallas, Pune, Berlin, New York City, or DC—our discussions always left me feeling reinvigorated and ready to tackle whatever my dissertation threw at me. It is funny to think that a hot, long walk around the reservoir to get pizza was the start of such a valuable friendship. To Susan d’Entremont and Kendra Williamson, without you there is no way that I could have finished this dissertation when I did. Thank you for taking care of the little one and putting up with my odd work schedule and work habits. To the German Historical Institute in Washington DC, thank you for the funding that allowed me to spend six months at the GHI surrounded by incredible thinkers. A special thank you goes out to Martin Klimke, Anke Ortlepp, Uta Balbier, S. Marina Jones, and the invaluable contributions from the rest of the GHI—through a variety of discussions, this project was born. The finished product is a long way from what I had envisioned working on before arriving at the GHI, and for that I am very appreciative! Last but not least, to my dissertation committee—Devin Pendas, Jonathan Zatlin, and Davarian Baldwin—thank you for all of your help, guidance, and comments. Your varying perspectives helped to keep me on my toes and made this work that much better. ii iii Introduction: The “Other” Germany and the “Other” America “U.S. ‘racism’ is hardly…threatening to East Germany….But at least it keeps the indoctrinated minds of the East Germans occupied until a more pressing issue comes along.”1 --Time Magazine, 1972 In November 1963, like Americans elsewhere, a group of old friends sat down to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner. Sitting around the table were Paul and Eslanda Robeson, Oliver Harrington, and Aubrey and Kay Pankey. Each of the diners seated at the table were supporters of the African American civil rights movement; Paul was an internationally-renowned actor and folk singer, and Eslanda was a prolific writer. Harrington earned his living as a cartoonist, creating characters that exemplified the Black American struggle. Aubrey was a classically trained singer, while his wife Kay was an editor at a book publishing company.2 It had been a dozen years, at least, since the friends and activists had last seen one another, and they spent the evening making up for lost time. Harrington regaled the group with stories about the exploits he and Paul had shared during their much younger years in Harlem. Meanwhile, the Pankeys were both silently noting how much Paul had aged in the years since they had last seen him, and were concerned about his health.3 Surely, this was a scene that played out similarly in many homes across the United States. This particular Thanksgiving dinner, however, was celebrated in East Berlin, East Germany. Not only were Harrington, the Pankeys, and the Robesons part of the civil rights struggle, they were also participants in a relationship between Black America and the communist Germany. This relationship has gone unnoticed by many historians and has been relegated to the status of historical curiosity by others, especially 1 “East Germany: St. Angela,” Time, 3 April 1972. 2 While Aubrey was African American, Kay was white American. 3 Martin Duberman, Paul Robeson: A Biography (New York: The New Press, 2005), 518-519. 1 those writing in the English language. Nevertheless, the alliance that developed between Black America and East Germany was more than a passing fascination of little historical consequence. Instead, this relationship was a fundamental result of Cold War tensions, made possible by a long history of black internationalism.4 An analysis of this friendship reveals the ways in which African Americans and East Germans together sought to navigate a world riven by ideological conflict. In examining the friendship between Black America and East Germany, this work has approached the alliance by asking: who in East Germany and among Black Americans was involved in this relationship, and how did these individuals influence the shape the relationship took? Why did the East German government reach out to Black America? What of value did African Americans see in a relationship with East Germany, a state closely associated with the United States’ declared enemy, the Soviet Union? For a relationship that spanned nearly all of East Germany’s forty-year life span, in what ways did an alliance with Black America actually impact the state’s interests? Did African Americans acquire anything useful from their friendship with a state that was constantly fighting for its own relevancy among both international and domestic observers? Utilizing a transnational approach, this study argues that the alliance between Black America and East Germany was a component of the East German struggle for legitimacy and diplomatic recognition, as well as a means of support and solidarity for black leftists struggling for rights in the US. The friendship was instigated by the East German government and, in East Germany, was primarily populated by members of the 4 Black internationalism will be defined in this work as the desire to look beyond one’s national borders for cooperation, aid, and assistance in order to accomplish goals and objectives at home. 2 elite. Constantly engaged in a tug-of-war battle with West Germany for international influence and prestige as the true representative of all German citizens, East Germany was at pains to build a positive reputation among international and domestic observers.

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