the Congo, Tanzania, and Kenya.337 Americans were Americans, and there was no need to search for a shared heritage, especially when the US were thought of as trying to culturally colonize African countries. Another immediate outcome of the tours and festivals is that several African countries organized their own festivals in the years after the Americans organized them.
New locations were built or expanded, so African cultural centers could use them. There is still a festival each year in the now renamed Onikan Stadium in Lagos.338
To sum up, the festivals and tours had no direct positive results for U.S. interests in Africa. The pro-Western countries mostly stayed pro-Western, communist leaders, and the socialist countries did not opt for a capitalist orientation. On a personal level, experiences will have differed. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Wilbur De Paris performed with his band, and one of the band members struck up a conversation with an Ethiopian bodyguard, talking about the house he bought, and the car he recently purchased.339 This conversation stood out for the bodyguard: “he told the staff member that he had now revised his opinion of the status of Negroes in the United States. He said he would not have believed these facts had not the American Negro told him himself.”340 So, in small installments the State Department did give the impression that the lives of African Americans were improving.
tours, and developments around the tours and therefore bring attention to a significant decade in Cold War history when government officials from the State Department used new methods abroad while not being able to control the methods at home. This research also wanted to include the African reaction in their media, which is often overlooked in other research of the global Cold War, especially because the information is harder to find. During this research, there were other points of focus that needed to be addressed but do not fit the earlier setup research questions. With that in mind, the research questions will now be discussed, by summarizing the gathered information in chapters two to five.
President Eisenhower, particularly, used Soft Power in the form of representation. He wanted to present the US in such a manner that the attention moved from the racial problems at home towards a more positive view. Eisenhower set up cultural exchange programs, one of which sent African American musicians to European and Third World countries, who had not decided if they allied with the US or the Soviet Union. Jazz performances became part of the diplomatic effort, therefore the soft power weapon of choice during the 1950s and the 1960s. It was a two-sided plan, trying to improve the situation at home while trying to influence countries with music that had before been seen as something for the poor, for the lowest classes. Many African countries in that era were characterized by a chaotic transition from being colonized to becoming fully independent. During the Eisenhower administration, the Soviets made their entry into Africa, so the American reaction was to counter a possible domino effect. The relationship with Africa became more pronounced during the Kennedy administration, because of Kennedy’s personal diplomacy, while Eisenhower had seen Africa as a continent of anonymous countries and policy-wise, was not involved in getting to know the countries.
Americans had the advantage of having decolonized themselves and could deploy their wealth which impressed Africans. But because of the oppression of black, formerly enslaved people in America itself, the relationship was always tenuous and was leaning towards disgust at times rather than admiration.
The jazz tours particularly were created for multiple reasons. They would provide a favorable press and promote jazz as a music genre. It also benefited the Civil Rights Movement in showing what African American artists were capable of doing. This was made clear by the (auto)biographies and the efforts of jazz institutes and critics. Most of the tours and festivals were either fully sponsored or mostly sponsored and organized by institutions connected to the Presidents Cultural Exchange Programs, like the USIA, the AMSAC, and the People-to-People program. These government-funded institutions paid the artists, set up events and tours, invited the press, and created (pseudo-)events in the host countries. The USIA handled most of the
positive press that was sent out to the Third World. The host countries would hopefully be impressed by the African American artists and their preferred form of expression and subsequently, choose American ‘freedom’ and capitalism over Eastern Bloc socialism. Plus, if the public relations were well handled, the surrounding countries, and the rest of the world, would also receive the message.
To what extent did the jazz tours influence African countries? The tours and festivals brought a manner of pride to the African people. America wanted to impress and excite them with substantial effort and costs, but most Africans were aware, partly because of Soviet propaganda, of the inequality and institutionalized racism and segregation in the US. The tours may therefore, - unintentionally - have enhanced a sense of independence with Africans. The actual influence of the tours themselves is not visible. No African leaders who leaned more towards socialism moved over to the Western side. Some countries just wanted organizational support and financial support and were not influenced at all by the Americans visiting them. In the case of the Lagos festival, it could be called a flop, leaving a bitter aftertaste of neocolonialism and American imperialism.
What was the experience and response of the African American jazz artists on tour? For the most part, artists gained consciousness in good and bad ways. In the beginning, a lot of them felt like they could represent their African American heritage and could bond with their ancestral countries. On the other hand, there was the legitimate worry of Randy Weston, about the marginalizing of black jazz musicians and the argument of Kirshenblatt-Gimblett that the framing of a performance as a national heritage disenfranchises creators. Or Nina Simone, who became more and more critical of her own country, especially because she claimed to have gained perspective in her time in Africa.
The relativity of cultural diplomacy also became clear when analyzing the tours extensively. Africa was experiencing large constitutional and constructional changes, many civil wars were fought out during these years, as well as messy decolonizations, border conflicts, and more in more than two-thirds of the continent. In a state of war, priorities were so severely different than the State Department accounted for, that the need for visiting African American jazz artists, or in general music, was very low. Military and economic support was more in need than music festivals. Another point is the economic deficit, made by the State Department, therefore the argument of economic gain was out of the window. So, the impact in the Cold War was not as high as anticipated while creating and promoting this part of the Cultural Exchange programs. Using soft power, propaganda, was a constant factor during the
Cold War, it became part of the character of both the United States and the Soviet Union, but in this case, its influence was rather relative.
What are the differences between the U.S. media in comparison to the other media on the tours, including African media? Before, during, and after the tours, the U.S. newspapers told their public that jazz was much appreciated in foreign countries, everyone loved Louis Armstrong and the tours in Africa were well received. Newspapers like the New York Times were highly positive about the tours and did not acknowledge any setbacks. For example, they did write about the loss of the first tour of Dizzy Gillespie.341 The African newspapers, especially those based in Lagos Nigeria, were often highly critical of the tours and festivals.
Headers like ‘Stop Faking African Culture’ show a consensus towards the Americans. The African media were disgusted by the American neocolonial efforts.
Jazz artists there might have had fans in Africa, but the attempts of the American government using jazz, and trying to copy African culture during the jazz festivals were seen as tone-deaf by the Africans. All these answers to the sub-questions answer the main research question; What were the outcomes of the state-sponsored jazz tours from 1954 to 1968? This research used the term Africa a lot of times like it is one country, this was mostly due to keeping the readability up and not being a distractive subject throughout the paper. About ¾ of Africa was visited by African American artists during the late 1950s and 1960s, and there were no distinct areas particularly neglected or more often visited, therefore the decision was made to use the term Africa instead of an area or a large group of countries, which would be more correct.
Implications and further research
There was an initial plan to include more primary sources from the African perspective. Due to travel restrictions, this plan could not succeed, as the largest African newspapers from the colonial period and the transitioning period are all found in the British Library and other institutions in Britain. Furthermore, there were online accessibility restrictions, so it was not possible in this situation to gain a lot of primary resources from the African perspective itself.
As mentioned in the Introduction, the few Nigerian newspapers I’ve found contained a lot of
341 'Gold Coast Makes a Holiday of Concert--Gillespie Is Back After Jazz Tour Gillespie Tour Loses $92,000', New York Times Archive (Published 1956)’.
information, as well as the African newspapers headings I’ve found in the secondary literature.
The true, long-term reactions of people from the African countries are something that could not be found in the information. Fortunately, through memoirs, some detailed examples, and the photographs and primary sources in Lonneke Geerlings her work, there was a possibility to gain information about the reaction of the tours. In further research, it would be interesting to see this subject entirely from an African perspective because that is something that is arguably overlooked sometimes in Cold War studies which is nevertheless interesting history. It would also be interesting to use this framework of this thesis and use it to analyze similar examples in other parts of the ‘Third World’, like the Middle East or South America. These parts of the world also got involved in the conflicts of the Cold War, during a time of changing power relations in their own countries. We now know what the intentions were of the State Department, how the tours were created, how they were executed to a certain level, and what the outcomes were for the African American jazz artists who returned from the tours, as well as for the State Department. From the small number of primary sources from the Nigerian newspapers, we can argue that the reception of the jazz artists and the propaganda ventures of the United States rather offended the Nigerian people, than praised them.
Appendix
Newspaper articles342
342 References Appendix (left-to-right, top-to-bottom): "33 Americans Going to Negro Art Fete", New York Times Archive (New York, N.Y., United States, 1961), 87; "100,000 IN AFRICA CHEER “SATCHMO”; Gold Coast Makes a Holiday of Concert--Gillespie Is Back After Jazz Tour Gillespie Tour Loses $92,000", New York Times Archive (New York, N.Y., United States 1956; Africa Society Picks Aide to Lagos, New York Times Archives. August 23, 1961 [accessed August 20, 2021].; Leonard Ingalls, ‘Armstrong Horn Wins Nairobi, Too’, New York Times Archive (New York, N.Y., United States, 7 November 1960); 'U.S. Negro Artists Go to Africa To Join in Cultural Exchange', New York Times Archive (New York, N.Y., United States, 1961), 54; 'Satchmo Plays for Congo Cats', New York Times Archive, October 29, 1960 (New York, N.Y., United States); 'Africa Harks to Satch’s Horn', New York Times Archive, 20 November, 1960 (New York, N.Y., United States, 1960).
Published: May 24, 1956 Copyright © The New York Times Published: August 23, 1961
Copyright © The New York Times
Photographs343
343References Appendix (left-to-right, top-to-bottom): Geoffrey Holder performing on the second night, ‘dressed in a typical African costume’ according to AMSAC. Source: ‘American Society of African Culture (AMSAC) Presents A Stupendous Display’, Africa, February 1962, 11–14:13. Courtesy of Moorland–Spingarn Research Center (MSRC), Howard University, American Society of African Culture (AMSAC) Manuscript Collection, Box 41, found in: Geerlings.; ‘Singer Nina Simone and host shake hands while other luncheon guests look on. U.S. university-trained Dr Azikiwe was Nigeria’s foremost leader during his country’s fight for independence, is first African to hold the post of Nigerian governor-general.’ Source: ‘African-American Cultural Exchange. Nigerian and U.S. Negro Artists Blend Talents at AMSAC Festival in Lagos’, Ebony. A Johnson Publication, 17, no. 5 (March 1962), 87–94:92, Found in: Geerlings; ‘African-American Cultural Exchange.
Nigerian and U.S. Negro Artists Blend Talents at AMSAC Festival in Lagos’, Ebony. A Johnson Publication, 17, no. 5 (March 1962), 87–94:92, Found in Geerlings. Langston Hughes leaving the Ambassador Hotel in traditional African clothing, ‘Scenes from the Lagos Cultural Festival, December 18–19, 1961’, AMSAC Newsletter, 4, no. 5 (1962), 3–4, found in Geerlings; AMSAC member luncheon at Lagos State House, ‘African-American Cultural Exchange. Nigerian and U.S.
Negro Artists Blend Talents at AMSAC Festival in Lagos’, Ebony. A Johnson Publication, 17, no. 5 (March 1962), 87–94.
Found in Geerlings; Nina Simone arriving at Lagos Airport, Source: ‘Scenes from the Lagos Cultural Festival, December 18–
19, 1961’, AMSAC Newsletter, 4, no. 5 (1962), 3–4, found in Geerlings; Langston Hughes with the then young author Chinua Achebe, Scenes from the Lagos Cultural Festival, December 18–19, 1961’, AMSAC Newsletter, 4, no. 5 (1962), 3–4, found in Geerlings.
Letters344
344 'Letter to Andy Stroud from Nina Simone’, December 1961, National Museum of African American History and Culture, NMAAHC-2011_132_3a_001,
<https://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?damspath=/Public_Sets/NMAAHC/NMAAHC_Slideshows/2011_132_3 a-e/> [accessed 10 October 2021].
345
345 ‘Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. President’s Office Files. Countries. Congo: Security, 1961.
‘Congo: Security, 1961' | JFK Library <https://www.jfklibrary.org/asset-viewer/archives/JFKPOF/114/JFKPOF-114-012> [accessed 6 October 2021].
Figures & data
346346 From left-to-right, top-to-bottom: Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Music in America’s Cold War Diplomacy
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015), p. 5; p. 6; Treshani Perera, “The Real Ambassadors: A Musical on Jazz Diplomacy and Race Relations During the Early Cold War Years”, University of Wisconsin UMW Digital Commons (2017).
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