In Search of Power
African Americans in the Era of Decolonization, 1956–1974

In Search of Power is a history of the era of civil rights, decolonization and Black Power, from 1956 to 1974.

Brenda Gayle Plummer (Author)

9781107654716, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 November 2012

382 pages, 17 b/w illus.
23.1 x 15.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.54 kg

'In Search of Power is a needed reminder to scholars and students focusing on this period and the aftermath that while we rightly examine the parallel struggles of blacks in America and those in Africa and the colonized Americas, the struggles were not identical and the failed expectations for African American rights in the United States can be better understood by looking at the relationship of these two struggles.' Elizabeth West, Amerikastudien/American Studies

In Search of Power is a history of the era of civil rights, decolonization and Black Power. In the critical period from 1956 to 1974, the emergence of newly independent states worldwide and the struggles of the civil rights movement in the United States exposed the limits of racial integration and political freedom. Dissidents, leaders and elites alike were linked in a struggle for power in a world where the rules of the game had changed. Brenda Gayle Plummer traces the detailed connections between African Americans' involvement in international affairs and how they shaped American foreign policy, integrating African American history, the history of the African Diaspora and the history of United States foreign relations. These topics, usually treated separately, not only offer a unified view of the period but also reassess controversies and events that punctuated this colorful era of upheaval and change.

Introduction
1. A great restlessness
2. Peace or a sword?
3. 'Freedom's struggle crosses oceans and mountains'
4. Meeting Odinga
5. When race doesn't matter
6. Embracing the globe
7. Race, space, and displacement
8. Africa and liberation
9. Agenda setting on two continents
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: International relations [JPS], Politics & government [JP], History of the Americas [HBJK], African history [HBJH], History [HB]