At the height of the ideological antagonism of the Cold War, the
U.S. State Department unleashed an unexpected tool in its battle against
Communism: jazz. From 1956 through the late 1970s, America dispatched
its finest jazz musicians to the far corners of the earth, from Iraq to
India, from the Congo to the Soviet Union, in order to win the hearts
and minds of the Third World and to counter perceptions of American
racism.
Penny Von Eschen escorts us across the globe, backstage
and onstage, as Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and
other jazz luminaries spread their music and their ideas further than
the State Department anticipated. Both in concert and after hours,
through political statements and romantic liaisons, these musicians
broke through the government's official narrative and gave their
audiences an unprecedented vision of the black American experience. In
the process, new collaborations developed between Americans and the
formerly colonized peoples of Africa, Asia, and the Middle
East--collaborations that fostered greater racial pride and solidarity.
Though
intended as a color-blind promotion of democracy, this unique Cold War
strategy unintentionally demonstrated the essential role of African
Americans in U.S. national culture. Through the tales of these tours,
Von Eschen captures the fascinating interplay between the efforts of the
State Department and the progressive agendas of the artists themselves,
as all struggled to redefine a more inclusive and integrated American
nation on the world stage.
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A beautiful and deep post. Thanks much. I never sided with the west. Still don't.
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