Race, Decolonization, and the Cold War

African Student Elites in Moscow, 1955-1964 At the height of Africa's decolonization, as new nations and their young leaders emerged with a passion for models of independence and self-determination, the Soviet Union became a key destination for study. In this unique review of African-Soviet relations, Harold Weaver serves as both researcher and personal witness, guiding the reader through the nuanced terrain of students seeking models of effective, radical change. Offering valuable insights to the history and current processes of development and peace, Race, Decolonization, and the Cold War reveals a piece of the past that spotlights significant lessons for the future. ** Prof. Harold D. Weaver, Jr.'s brilliant and transformative study of the education of sub-Saharan- African post-colonial elites in the Soviet Union explores that wrongly neglected phenomenon with profound insight, impeccable and exhaustive research, and a spirit of intellectual sobriety that does not bow to lingering Cold War prejudices. -Mark Solomon, Prof. of History Emeritus, Simmons University, Boston (from the Foreword) This book consistently, deeply, and knowledgeably reveals to the reader the main aspects of its important and interesting topic. What makes the book a real gem, is that its author, Harold Weaver, witnessed much of what he writes about, and knew personally many people of those mentioned on the book’s pages. Due to this, the reader can feel the vibrant atmosphere of the great time of African decolonization. -Dmitri M. Bondarenko, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Much about the fascinating encounter between postcolonial Africa and the communist superpower was obscured by the fog of the Cold War. Weaver expertly cuts through ideological obfuscations and simplistic propaganda narratives to reveal one of the central yet rarely recognized stories of that period. What makes this book particularly valuable and will ensure its relevance to generations of students is the author’s personal involvement in the historical events he sets out to analyze. Professor Weaver has written a book, one of those rare works of scholarship, where the author is also an invaluable primary source. -Maxim Matusevich, Professor and Chair, Department of History, Seton Hall University

Harold (Hal) D. Weaver is an Associate at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. From his early experience in Communist Moscow as a member of an official USSR-USA young adult exchange group, Hal has been a lifelong cultural ambassador. He has traveled the world breaking down barriers and building bridges between cultures, often using film as the medium through The Black Film Project and the China-Africa-Russia Project. A pioneer in Africana studies, he founded and chaired the Africana Studies Department at Rutgers University. Weaver is also a leading activist-scholar within the Religious Society of Friends. One of the fruits of his Friend’s ministry, The Black Quaker Project, was the publication of Black Fire: African-American Quakers on Spirituality and Human Rights (2011), which Hal edited with Paul Kriese and Stephen W. Angell. A member of Wellesley Friends Meeting, Hal is active locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally among Quakers, having served in governance roles with the Quaker United Nations Office, the American Friends Service Committee, Pendle Hill, Cambridge Friends School, and the Friends World Committee for Consultation.