Table of Contents

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi INTRODUCTION: Color-Conscious Internationalism and the Twentieth-Century Struggle 1 PART I: World War I and the Peace Settlement PRELUDE: "Yours for World Democracy": Journeys to Paris 15 CHAPTER ONE: "Let Us Be True to Our Mission": Race Reform and the World War 19 CHAPTER TWO: "The Morning Cometh": The Signi .cance of the Peace 51 PART II: Between the Wars CHAPTER THREE: "From Deep in the Heart of Russia": The Reformers Look Abroad in the 1920s 75 CHAPTER FOUR: "Sounds Suspiciously like Miami": The Turbulent World of the 1930s 101 PART III: From World War II to Vietnam CHAPTER FIVE: "Democracy Should Begin at Home": The Struggle for Equality and the Second World War 131 CHAPTER SIX: "To Help Save the World": Seeking Race Reform,1945 -1950 156 CHAPTER SEVEN: "Struggling to Save America": The Reformers and the World of the 1950s 185 CHAPTER EIGHT: "I've Seen the Promised Land": Triumph and Tragedy in the 1960s 214 POSTLUDE: World Affairs and the Domestic Crusade 229 Notes 235 Index 311

Promotional Information

A fascinating account of the role of internationalism in race reform discourse... An important contribution to the literature on race and international affairs and the growing body of work on internationalism in American reform politics. How Far the Promised Land is essential reading for civil rights scholars and for scholars interested in international approaches to American history. -- Mary L. Dudziak, University of Southern California, author of "Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy" In his introduction to this innovative and engaging history, Jonathan Rosenberg argues that we cannot fully understand the twentieth-century civil rights movement if we do not understand exactly how its leaders and laity made sense of, and use of, international affairs. He goes on to demonstrate, in great and effective detail, just how they made sense and use of international affairs, and how the relationship between civil rights and international affairs has shaped our history. Rosenberg writes clearly, crisply, and vividly. He has an ear for unforgettable quotes--the voices of his subjects ring loudly and give the story its force--and an eye for moving human drama. -- James Goodman, Rutgers University, author of "Stories of Scottsboro" Jonathan Rosenberg amply proves his thesis that race reformers from World War I on were acutely aware of a variety of international issues, and that they incorporated references to events overseas in their arguments for racial progress in America. He has done a wonderful job of assembling a convincing collection of quotations that attest to the cosmopolitan view of race reformers, particularly those in the NAACP, and he demonstrates the importance of international consciousness over a longer time period and in much greater detail than have others. -- Frank Costigliola, University of Connecticut, author of "France and the United States: The Cold War Alliance since World War II"

About the Author

Jonathan Rosenberg is Assistant Professor of History at Hunter College of the City University of New York.

Reviews

"Jonathan Rosenberg, describing 'color-conscious internationalism', demonstrated how the men and women who struggled to win equality for black Americans used world affairs--and especially wars--to advance their cause... Rosenberg does a superb job of analyzing the interplay of world affairs and the quest for racial justice in the United States from 1914 to the 1960s."--Warren I. Cohen, International History Review