Beyond the Shores: A History of African Americans Abroad

In this innovative survey, historian Walker (Exquisite Slaves) profiles expatriate African Americans across the 20th century. Focusing on figures like Josephine Baker and Richard Wright, Walker highlights the inspiration and freedom that Paris and other international cities gave to Black American artists. She also touches on politics, business, academia, and the military, spotlighting the many ways in which African Americans have participated in world affairs beyond America’s shores. Among the profile subjects are Oliver Golden, a defector to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and Mabel Grammer, a military wife living in Germany in the 1950s who found homes for stigmatized “Brown Babies,” the mixed-race children of German women and American soldiers. There are also interviews with contemporary African Americans who have lived and worked abroad, including Kim Bass, an actor on Japanese television in the 1990s, which exemplify the challenges and opportunities Black Americans in foreign countries continued to come up against through the turn of the 21st century. (When he arrived in Japan in the 1980s, Bass was sometimes initially denied entry to bars and clubs not because he was Black per se, but because of strong public sentiment against the U.S. military; bouncers wrongly stereotyped all Black Americans as soldiers.) Drawing on a vast range of sources, including archival materials and memoirs, Walker provides a rich and nuanced portrait of an understudied aspect of African American life. It’s a unique contribution to American history. (June)