The Council on African Affairs (CAA), until 1941 called the International Committee on African Affairs (ICAA), was a volunteer organization founded in 1937 in the United States. It emerged as the leading voice of

anti-colonialism Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on separatism, in ...

and

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and internationally before

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

anti-communism Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when the United States and the ...

and

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

created too much strife among members; the organization split in 1955.Duberman, Martin, "The Apex of Fame", ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pp. 284–285. The split was also precipitated by co-founder

Max Yergan Max Yergan (July 19, 1892 – April 11, 1975) was an African-American activist notable for being a Baptist missionary for the YMCA, then a Communist working with Paul Robeson, and finally a staunch anti-Communist who complimented the government ...

's abandonment of

left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political%20ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically in ...

; he advocated

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

rule in Africa.

Founding members

Paul Robeson Paul Leroy Robeson ( ; April 9, 1898 – January 23, 1976) was an American bass-baritone concert artist, stage and film actor, professional football player, and activist who became famous both for his cultural accomplishments and for his p ...

served as the CAA's chairman for most of its existence while

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American-Ghanaian sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in ...

served as vice-chair and head of the Africa Aid Committee. Activist

, who taught at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

(until 1941), was its first Executive Director.

Alphaeus Hunton Alphaeus Hunton Jr. (1903–1970) was a civil rights activist. He was executive director of the Council on African Affairs. Life He was born on 18 September 1903, in Atlanta. His family moved to Brooklyn. He graduated from Howard University, and ...

, an assistant professor in the English and Romance Languages department at Howard University, joined the CAA in 1943 as its Educational Director. He was appointed as its Executive Director, after Yergan resigned. Hunton was also the editor of the CAA publication, ''

New Africa The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), founded in 1968 as the Republic of New Africa (RNA), is a black nationalist organization and black separatist movement in the United States popularized by black militant groups. The larger New Afrika movemen ...

.'' He was the primary force behind much of the CAA's activity and vision through the early 1950s. Other pioneer members of the ICAA were

Raymond Leslie Buell Raymond Leslie Buell (1896–1946) was an American social scientist. He was an instructor at Harvard University until 1927 when he became research director at the Foreign Policy Association. He later became president of the Foreign Policy Associati ...

and

Ralph J. Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

. The CAA, from its beginning in 1941, received the support of mainstream activists and liberal intellectuals such as anthropologist

Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical ...

, historian

E. Franklin Frazier Edward Franklin Frazier (; September 24, 1894 – May 17, 1962), was an American sociologist and author, publishing as E. Franklin Frazier. His 1932 Ph.D. dissertation was published as a book titled ''The Negro Family in the United States'' (19 ...

, record producer

John H. Hammond John Henry Hammond II (December 15, 1910 – July 10, 1987) was an American record producer, civil rights activist, and music critic active from the 1930s to the early 1980s. In his service as a talent scout, Hammond became one of the most infl ...

, Mary McLeod Bethune (from the National Youth Administration) and Rayford Logan. The

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

(FBI) surveilled CAA's founding members as early as 1942. The CAA's main donor was

Frederick Vanderbilt Field Frederick Vanderbilt Field (April 13, 1905 – February 1, 2000) was an American leftist political activist, political writer and a great-great-grandson of railroad tycoon Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt, disinherited by his wealthy relatives for ...

Goals and message

The Council on African Affairs articulated and promoted a fundamental connection between the struggle of

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and the destiny of colonized peoples in Africa, Asia and elsewhere in the world. Among a host of other campaigns, it lobbied the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

and the United Nations and lent material support on behalf of Indian independence, striking trade unionists in Nigeria, and African

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

relief. It publicized the connections between these campaigns and its larger critique of colonialism and capitalism via its monthly bulletin ''New Africa''. The CAA's most significant work took place in relation to South Africa. It supported striking black miners and helped direct worldwide attention to the African National Congress's struggle against the Union of South Africa government and its policy of imposing racial apartheid.

''South Africa Uncensored'' (1951)

In 1951, the Council produced a half-hour agitprop documentary film about apartheid in South Africa, narrated by Paul Robeson and edited by Hortense Beveridge. The only-known copy of the film, ''South Africa Uncensored'', is part of the Pearl Bowser Collection (2012.79.1.5.1a) was preserved by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture (available for stream via museum website).

Reaction to United Nations Conference 1945

Members of the CAA were hopeful that following World War II, when Western powers adopted new resolutions on the issue of colonialism, that they would encourage Third World independence under the trusteeship of the United Nations.Duberman, Martin, "Postwar Politics", ''Paul Robeson'', 1989, pp. 296–297. To the CAA's dismay, the

introduced a series of proposals at the April–May 1945 conference that set no clear limits on the length of

colonialist Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

occupation and no motions toward allowing territorial possessions to move toward self-government.

Cold War

The Council on African Affairs advocated an internationalization of domestic civil rights, support for African liberation groups, and a non-aligned stance on the part of developing nations toward the

superpower A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...

s. Combined with many CAA leaders' past and current associations with the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

, this position became politically untenable by the early 1950s. The

House Unamerican Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

(HUAC) put great pressure on communist-affiliated organizations and activists. Liberal supporters abandoned the CAA and the

cracked down on its operations. In 1953, the CAA was charged with subversion under the McCarran Act. Its principal leaders, including Robeson, Du Bois, and Hunton, were subjected to harassment, indictments, and in the case of Hunton, six months' imprisonment. Under the weight of internal disputes, government repression, and financial hardships, the Council on African Affairs disbanded in 1955. The United States government considered advocacy for the liberation of colonialist Africa as a "Communist cause" and therefore contrary to national interests during the

. Following Joseph Stalin's excesses in the Soviet Union of murdering and repressing millions, and other problems in the Communist world, Max Yergan had become disillusioned with Communism and spoke out against it. In 1952, he spoke against Communism on a visit to South Africa. In 1964, he praised aspects of the South African government's "separate development" plan under apartheid. In the last decade of life, he co-chaired the conservative American-African Affairs Association."Max Yergan"
South African History Online.

References

External links

Watch
the Council's documentary film ''South Africa Uncensored'' (1951
via NMAAHC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Council on African Affairs 1937 establishments in the United States Organizations established in 1937 Pan-Africanist organizations Paul Robeson