Russia and the Negro: Blacks in Russian History and Thought Book

"Russia and the Negro: Blacks in Russian History and Thought" by Dr. Allison Blakely is a groundbreaking study of the Negro presence in Imperial and Soviet Russia. Unlike many Russian studies texts, this volume fully engages the cultural and social dimensions of Russian history form antiquity to the present. It provides an intriguing look at native Russians of African descent and black immigrants and visitors to the land. Blakely begins with an account of the black-skinned, woolly headed Colchians of the Imperial era, who lived in the Black Sea area as early as the eighth century B.C. and who were described by Herodotus and other ancient Greeks. He then turns to another group of obscure African descendants, "rediscovered" from time to time since 1913, who have reportedly inhabited settlements along the Black Sea coast since the eighteenth century. He also examines the lives of Abram Hannibal, the celebrated military engineer, and his descendant, nineteenth century writer Alexander Pushkin. Between 1858 and the end of the nineteenth century, significant numbers of Negro visitors and immigrants journeyed to Russia, attracted by stories of relative freedom in a country that had never participated in the slave trade. Blakely recounts the experiences of thespian Ira Aldridge, lawyer T. Morris Chester, and race-horse jockey Jimmy Winkfield in Imperial Russia. "Russia and the Negro" examines the powerful attraction Soviet Russia presented for blacks because they believe it has promised them a life "singularly devoid of discrimination and humiliation because of their color." Among the many prominent Afro-American visitors and immigrants profiled in this section are writers Claude McKay and Langston Hughes, performing artist Paul Robeson, and political activists George Padmore and Angela Davis. Blakely scrutinizes the Soviet perception of the American "Negro Question" and Soviet-African relations, as revealed in Russian art, literature, ideology, and politics. "Russia and the Negro" provides scholarly and provocative examinations of Russia's centuries-old relationship with black Africa and Africans in the diaspora and suggests important directions for future research. It is an outstanding comparative study that challenges our conventional view of Russia and provides novel insights for scholars and general readers alike. Source: Front flap of hardcover edition.