The United States and Africa: A History

by Peter Duignan , L. H. Gann

• ISBN13: 9780521335713
• ISBN10: 052133571X
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1987-04-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Tracing the reciprocal relationship between Africa and North America from the seventeenth-century slave trade to the present day, two leading authorities in the field provide a major revision to traditional colonial African history as well as to US history. Departing from prior accounts that tended to emphasise only the role of the colonial metropoles in developing Africa, the authors show how American pioneers - missionaries, traders, prospectors, miners, engineers, scientists, and others - have helped to shape Africa. They also point to the equally important impact made by Africa on the United States through trade and immigration, and through the influence of Africans on the arts and agriculture, among other facets of American life. In a study of exceptionally broad scope, the authors devote particular attention to the development of United States policy regarding Africa, the impact of private enterprise, the operation of governmental lobbies, the administration of foreign aid, and the involvement of Africa in the Cold War.

Table of Contents

Illustrations and maps

Preface

Part I. The Slave Trade: 1. The transatlantic slave trade: an overview

2. The legal slave trade in North America

3. Ending the slave trade

4. The U.S. Navy and the antislavery campaign

5. The effects of the slave trade

Part II. Commerce, Christianity, and Colonization Societies Up To 1865: 6. American traders and whalers

7. Missionaries and colonization societies

8. Explorers and frontiersmen

Part III. The United States and Africa, 1865-1900: 9. The vanishing flag

10. Liberia: the lamb and the wolves

11. Bula Matari and the Congo

12. Neutrality and philanthropy

13. Traders, explorers, and soldiers of misfortune

14. Miners and adventurers

15. Capitalists and missionaries

Part IV. The United States and Africa, 1900-1939: 16. Official America

17. Private interest groups

18. Preachers and teachers in Africa

19. Black nationalism and the search for an African past

Part V. The United States in Africa, 1939-1983: 20. Africa between East and West

21. Economic activities: the private sector

22. Economic activities: the public sector

23. American interests in Africa, 1945-1983

24. Americans in Africa, and Africans in America

Appendixes

Notes

Selected bibliography

Index.