1st Edition
African Americans and the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970 ‘Black America Cares’
This book is the first to recover and analyse at length the extent, complexity, and character of African American responses to the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970).
Far from having only marginal significance, the Nigerian Civil War collided at full velocity with the conflicting discourses and ideas by which black Americans sought to understand their place in the United States and the world in the late 1960s. Black civil rights leaders offered their service as agents of direct diplomacy during the conflict, seeking to preserve Nigerian unity; grassroots activists organised food-drives, concerts and awareness campaigns in support of humanitarian aid for victims of famine in the warzone; while other black activists warned of an imminent genocide and called for an united response from black Americans. Drawing on private papers, activist literature, government records, and especially the black press, it charts the way the civil war shaped, as well as challenged, the worldview of African Americans regarding black internationalist solidarities, territorial sovereignty and political viability, humanitarian compassion, and the political trajectory of post-colonial Africa.
With a chronological approach, this study is the ideal resource for all those interested in the Nigerian Civil War and the history of black internationalism.
Introduction 1. ‘The rich vigorous flood of Africa as she rises in Strength and Beauty’: Nigerian and African American interactions across the Black Atlantic 1919-1960 2. ‘The Crop of Destiny’: African Americans and Nigeria, 1960- 1966 3. ‘To the benefit of Africa, the world, and ourselves’: The American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa (ANLCA) Mission to Nigeria, 1966-1968 4. ‘Black America Cares’: The Humanitarian Response of African Americans to Reports of Famine and ‘Genocide’ in Biafra, 1968-1970 5. ‘Do our brothers and sisters care?’: The Joint Afro Committee on Biafra and African American Supporters of Biafran Independence, 1969-1970 6. ‘Long live the united Republic of Nigeria – the hope of black men everywhere in this Twentieth Century world’: African Americans and the priority of Nigerian Unity, 1969-1970 7. Conclusion
Biography
James A. Farquharson received a PhD from Australian Catholic University and a Masters from University of Sydney. He is a historian of the United States in the World, and his most recent article was published in Journal of Global History in 2021.
