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Book Reviews / African and Asian Studies 6 (2007) 201-218 Kevin K. Gaines. American Africans in Ghana

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Book Reviews / African and Asian Studies 6 (2007) 201-218 Kevin K. Gaines. American Africans in Ghana Book Reviews / African and Asian Studies 6 (2007) 201-218 209 Kevin K. Gaines. American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era (Chapel Hill, N.C.: Th e University of North Carolina Press, 2006). Kevin K. Gaines’ book, American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era, is very well crafted. Also, it thoroughly examines the ways in which Ghana’s indepen- dence on March 6, 1957 and the contacts between Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (the first Presi- dent of Ghana) and African American activists did influence the second phase of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement between the 1950s and 1960s (the earlier movement was in the 1800s). Some aspects of this provocative and well-delineated book seek to situate Nkrumah’s contributions to the civil rights struggle and transnational radicalisms that germinated in Africa and rippled across diasporic dimensions. Gaines makes a convincing case, as he suc- cessfully interrogates this by delving into mutual political exchanges between Nkrumah, Ghanaians and African American expatriates. Also Gaines explores their shared struggle under white supremacy, their common cultural kinship and transnational Pan-African ideological interests that evolved between the two groups across geographical boundaries. Furthermore, he chronicles the life experiences of African American expatriates who migrated to Ghana during the Cold War hysteria, those who moved into exile after chal- lenging Jim Crow Laws, and others who joined the exodus to Ghana voluntarily to show how they carried back with them new political ideas to sustain the civil rights movement. Gaines positions Nkrumah and Ghana as the focal points in his book to explain how African American expatriates, leftist radicals and intellectuals, who joined other flights to the motherland, contributed to Nkrumah’s post-independent nation-building project. Most significantly, Gaines argues that expatriates contacts with Nkrumah, the Pan-African icon, the influence of Ghana’s independence on several African countries still under the colonial yoke and African Americans interactions with Ghanaian socio-political cultures had a momentous effect on the political consciousness of African American expatriates and others who traveled to Ghana to witness the historical independence celebration. Accord- ing to Gaines, African Americans who participated in the independence festivities returned to the US more energized and deeply convinced about the dying days of white supremacy in the Jim Crow South. Th e far-reaching effects were visible in the statements of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he stood before a Montgomery crowd and proclaimed, “Ghana tells us that the forces of the universe are on our side of justice . An old order of colonialism, of segregation, of discrimination is passing away now” (p. 84). In fact, Gaines argues that the fall of Nkrumah’s government in 1966 compelled expatriates to return home to inject more zeal into the Civil Rights Movement. Th e book is arranged in three sections, connecting each other thematically. Th e first part explores the triple towers of white supremacy – colonialism, capitalism and Jim Crow[ism], and how these three oppressive forces created agency in Africa and Black America. Th e political climate, during that period as Gaines posits, crafted a new wave of political activ- ism, radicalism and grassroots mobilization within Africa and the African Diaspora. As Gaines relates, the “interwoven and anti-colonial routes of passage influenced the political formation of pan-African nationalist leaders and intellectuals, including Kwame Nkrumah, George Padmore, and St. Clair Drake” (p. 17). In addition, Gaines outlines Pan-African organizations such as Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) that surfaced in the US and other diasporic enclaves. He also demonstrates how the new enterprises shaped black consciousness worldwide. Moreover, Gaines documents the roots of transnational connections across the African diaspora, movements of black bodies, © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2007 DOI: 10.1163/156921007X166925 AAASAS 66,1-2_BR_209-211.indd,1-2_BR_209-211.indd 220909 44/18/07/18/07 22:01:10:01:10 PPMM 210 Book Reviews / African and Asian Studies 6 (2007) 201-218 dialogues, mobilization projects across the Caribbean, Ghana and the US; as well as the emergence of large scale African American visits, pilgrimages, exodus as well as pilgrimages and the creation of African American expatriate communities in Nkrumah’s Ghana. Gaines is mindful of other political turmoil within Ghana during the presidency of Nkrumah. He carefully outlines factors that led to political instability and ultimately the overthrow of Nkrumah’s government by the Ghana Military which recent scholarship shows was backed by the US and former colonial powers. Th e second half of the book mainly deals with Nkrumah’s shift from pro-Western political position to the Communist block and his transformation from a national hero to a tyrant. Based on the discourse of the birth of political chaos in Ghana and revelations about the dark side of Nkrumah, Gaines briefly explores human rights violations during Nkrumah’s regime – tortures of Ghanaians and the silencing of opposition voices which resulted in the death of many innocent oppo- nents including Dr. J. B. Danquah, the Ghanaian statesman who invited Nkrumah from England to head the UGCC party prior to Ghana’s independence (p. 212). Th is part is significant because it informs us about how the expatriate communities were gradually drawn into the tensions between Nkrumah and his enemies. Th e thrust of American Africans in Ghana: Black Expatriates and the Civil Rights Era lies in the third section, whereby Gaines probes the effects of the fall of Nkrumah’s government in 1966 on fledgling diasporic relationships, especially between African American expatri- ate communities, Ghanaians and the Ghanaian government. Th is section seems to grapple with the future of expatriates after Nkrumah. Indeed, expatriates fantasies about Nkrumah and Ghana surpassed anything else and, for most part, could not create space for themselves. An ensuing query was: What will happen to expatriates after the demise of Nkrumah? Since they were heavily investing in Nkrumah’s agenda and were blinded by the internal and external forces that threatened Nkrumah’s life, when the military (proverbially) threw out the baby (Nkrumah) with the water (expatriates), their projects in Ghana ended too. Th is section also informs readers about the reactions of Ghanaians, African Americans and blacks in the diaspora to the sudden overthrow of Nkrumah, who was largely seen as a ‘messiah’ in Africa and the African diaspora. Additionally, in this section, Gaines notes that because “Ghana was a haven for a range of activists working at the intersection of anti- colonial, civil rights, leftist, and pacifist movements,” (p. 6) many people blamed the US government and former colonial powers for stifling streams of liberation movements, pan- African projects and black consciousness that was ignited in Africa and the New World by Nkrumah and Ghana’s independence. More significantly, the final section reveals how expatriates’ plans were disrupted, and how they had to seek new avenues for activism in other parts of Africa. However, a sizable number of expatriates, including Dr. Robert Lee, remained in Ghana and naturalized as Ghanaian citizens. In retrospect, the loss of Ghana when Nkrumah was forced into exile in Guinea was a gain for the Civil Rights Movement as expatriates returned to the US. Gaines nails his main argument here, “time and distance enabled the expatriates to overcome the trauma and disruption of the coup. With varying success, they pursued intellectual and cultural projects that sought to cultivate a politically conscious black public sphere” (p. 245). Gaines argues forcefully that the ‘disciples’ of Nkrumah’s pan-African vision were able to infuse new concepts in fledgling civil rights movements at home. For example, St. Clair Drake worked closely with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, through this political space Drake disseminated some of the ideas he harvested from Nkrumah’s revolution (p. 266). AAASAS 66,1-2_BR_209-211.indd,1-2_BR_209-211.indd 221010 44/18/07/18/07 22:01:10:01:10 PPMM.
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