The United States and Africa
A History

This study traces the reciprocal relationship between Africa and America from the seventeenth-century slave trade onwards.

Peter Duignan (Author), L. H. Gann (Author)

9780521335713, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 April 1987

468 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 3 cm, 0.685 kg

Tracing the reciprocal relationship between Africa and North America from the seventeenth-century slave trade onwards, two leading authorities in the field provide a major revision to traditional colonial African history as well as to US history. Departing from prior accounts that tended to emphasise only the role of the colonial metropoles in developing Africa, the authors show how American pioneers - missionaries, traders, prospectors, miners, engineers, scientists, and others - have helped to shape Africa. They also point to the equally important impact made by Africa on the United States through trade and immigration, and through the influence of Africans on the arts and agriculture, among other facets of American life. In a study of exceptionally broad scope, the authors devote particular attention to the development of United States policy regarding Africa, the impact of private enterprise, the operation of governmental lobbies, the administration of foreign aid, and the involvement of Africa in the Cold War.

Illustrations and maps
Preface
Part I. The Slave Trade: 1. The transatlantic slave trade: an overview
2. The legal slave trade in North America
3. Ending the slave trade
4. The U.S. Navy and the antislavery campaign
5. The effects of the slave trade
Part II. Commerce, Christianity, and Colonization Societies Up To 1865: 6. American traders and whalers
7. Missionaries and colonization societies
8. Explorers and frontiersmen
Part III. The United States and Africa, 1865–1900: 9. The vanishing flag
10. Liberia: the lamb and the wolves
11. Bula Matari and the Congo
12. Neutrality and philanthropy
13. Traders, explorers, and soldiers of misfortune
14. Miners and adventurers
15. Capitalists and missionaries
Part IV. The United States and Africa, 1900–1939: 16. Official America
17. Private interest groups
18. Preachers and teachers in Africa
19. Black nationalism and the search for an African past
Part V. The United States in Africa, 1939–1983: 20. Africa between East and West
21. Economic activities: the private sector
22. Economic activities: the public sector
23. American interests in Africa, 1945–1983
24. Americans in Africa, and Africans in America
Appendixes
Notes
Selected bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of the Americas [HBJK]