Council on African Affairs
Encyclopedia
The Council on African Affairs (CAA), until 1941 called the International Committee on African Affairs (ICAA), was a volunteer organization founded in 1937. It emerged as the leading voice of anti-colonialism and Pan-Africanism
in the United States
and internationally before Cold War
anti-communism
and liberalism
created too much strife amongst members 1955.. The split was also precipitated by co-founder Max Yergan’s abandonment of left wing politics and his subsequent advocacy on behalf of colonial rule in Africa.
served as the CAA's chairman for most of its existence while W. E. B. Du Bois served as vice-chair and head of the Africa Aid Committee. Activist Max Yergan
, who taught at the City College of New York
(until 1941), was its first Executive Director. Alphaeus Hunton Jr. (1903-1970), an assistant professor in the English and Romance Languages department at Howard University
, joined the CAA in 1943 as its Educational Director. He was also made its Executive Director, after the resignation of Yergan. Hunton was the editor of the CAA publication, New Africa, and the primary force behind much of the CAA's activity and vision. Other pioneer members of the ICAA were Raymond Leslie Buell and Ralph J. Bunche. The CAA, from its beginning in 1941, received the support of mainstream activists and liberal intellectuals like Franz Boas
, E. Franklin Frazier
, record producer John H. Hammond
, Mary McLeod Bethune
( from the National Youth Administration
) and Rayford Logan
.
, Asia
and elsewhere in the world. Among a host of other campaigns, it lobbied the federal government
and the United Nations
and lent material support on behalf of India
n independence, striking trade union
ists in Nigeria
, and African famine
relief, all while publicizing the connections between these campaigns and its larger critique of colonialism
and capitalism via their monthly bulletin New Africa. The CAA's most significant work involved South Africa
, where it supported striking miners and helped direct worldwide attention to the African National Congress
's struggle against the Union of South Africa
government and its implementation of racial apartheid.
, when Western Powers adopted new resolutions on the issue of colonialism
that they would move towards encouraging Third World
independence under the trusteeship of the United Nations. To the CCA's dismay, the United States
introduced a series of proposals at the April-May 1945 conference that set no clear limits on the length of colonialist occupation
and no motions towards allowing territorial possessions to move towards self government.
superpower
s. Combined with many CAA leaders' past and current associations with the Communist Party USA
, this position had become politically untenable by the early 1950s. Liberal
supporters abandoned the CAA and the federal government
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, imprisonment. Under the weight of internal disputes, government repression, and financial hardships, the Council on African Affairs disbanded in 1955. Advocacy for the liberation of colonialist Africa was considered a "Communist cause" and therefore contradictory to the interests US government during the Cold War.In turn, Max Yergan had become disillusioned with Communism and spoke out against it. In 1952 he spoke against Communism on a visit to South Africa and in 1964 he praised aspects of the South African governments "separate development" plan. In the last decade of life he co-chaired the conservative "American-African Affairs Association."
Pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is a movement that seeks to unify African people or people living in Africa, into a "one African community". Differing types of Pan-Africanism seek different levels of economic, racial, social, or political unity...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and internationally before Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
and liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
created too much strife amongst members 1955.. The split was also precipitated by co-founder Max Yergan’s abandonment of left wing politics and his subsequent advocacy on behalf of colonial rule in Africa.
Founding Members
Paul RobesonPaul Robeson
Paul Leroy Robeson was an American concert singer , recording artist, actor, athlete, scholar who was an advocate for the Civil Rights Movement in the first half of the twentieth century...
served as the CAA's chairman for most of its existence while W. E. B. Du Bois served as vice-chair and head of the Africa Aid Committee. Activist Max Yergan
Max Yergan
Max Yergan 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 of apartheid-era South Africa for that part of their program...
, who taught at the City College of New York
City College of New York
The City College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , in New York City. It is also the oldest of the City University's twenty-three institutions of higher learning...
(until 1941), was its first Executive Director. Alphaeus Hunton Jr. (1903-1970), an assistant professor in the English and Romance Languages department at Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
, joined the CAA in 1943 as its Educational Director. He was also made its Executive Director, after the resignation of Yergan. Hunton was the editor of the CAA publication, New Africa, and the primary force behind much of the CAA's activity and vision. Other pioneer members of the ICAA were Raymond Leslie Buell and Ralph J. Bunche. The CAA, from its beginning in 1941, received the support of mainstream activists and liberal intellectuals like Franz Boas
Franz Boas
Franz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did...
, E. Franklin Frazier
E. Franklin Frazier
Edward Franklin Frazier , was an American sociologist. His 1932 Ph.D. dissertation The Negro Family in Chicago, later released as a book The Negro Family in the United States in 1939, analyzed the cultural and historical forces that influenced the development of the African American family from the...
, record producer John H. Hammond
John H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
, Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D...
( from the National Youth Administration
National Youth Administration
The National Youth Administration was a New Deal agency in the United States that focused on providing work and education for Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. It operated from 1935 to 1939 as part of the Works Progress Administration . Following the passage of the Reorganization Act of...
) and Rayford Logan
Rayford Logan
Rayford Whittingham Logan was an African-American historian and Pan-African activist. He was best known for his study of post-Reconstruction America, a period he termed "the nadir of American race relations"...
.
Goals and Message
The Council on African Affairs articulated and promoted a fundamental connection between the struggle of African Americans and the destiny of colonized peoples in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and elsewhere in the world. Among a host of other campaigns, it lobbied the federal government
Federal government
The federal government is the common government of a federation. The structure of federal governments varies from institution to institution. Based on a broad definition of a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and...
and the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and lent material support on behalf of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n independence, striking trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
ists in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, and African famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
relief, all while publicizing the connections between these campaigns and its larger critique of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
and capitalism via their monthly bulletin New Africa. The CAA's most significant work involved South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, where it supported striking miners and helped direct worldwide attention to the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
's struggle against the Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...
government and its implementation of racial apartheid.
Reaction to United Nations Conference 1945
Members of the CCA were hopeful that following World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when Western Powers adopted new resolutions on the issue of colonialism
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
that they would move towards encouraging Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
independence under the trusteeship of the United Nations. To the CCA's dismay, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
introduced a series of proposals at the April-May 1945 conference that set no clear limits on the length of colonialist occupation
Military occupation
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.-Military occupation and the laws of war:...
and no motions towards allowing territorial possessions to move towards 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 cold warCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
superpower
Superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
s. Combined with many CAA leaders' past and current associations with the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
, this position had become politically untenable by the early 1950s. Liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
supporters abandoned the CAA and the federal government
Federal government
The federal government is the common government of a federation. The structure of federal governments varies from institution to institution. Based on a broad definition of a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and...
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, imprisonment. Under the weight of internal disputes, government repression, and financial hardships, the Council on African Affairs disbanded in 1955. Advocacy for the liberation of colonialist Africa was considered a "Communist cause" and therefore contradictory to the interests US government during the Cold War.In turn, Max Yergan had become disillusioned with Communism and spoke out against it. In 1952 he spoke against Communism on a visit to South Africa and in 1964 he praised aspects of the South African governments "separate development" plan. In the last decade of life he co-chaired the conservative "American-African Affairs Association."