Local-born writer dishes on blacks in world history
By Malaika Horne
For the St. Louis American
Dr. Gerald Horne has recently written two lively and provocative books chronicling the impact of internationalism on the African-American struggle. An historian, attorney and endowed history professor at the University of Houston, Horne recently shared his latest works, Black & Brown: African Americans and the Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920 and Red Seas: Ferdinand Smith & Black Sailors in the U. S. and Jamaica, at the Missouri Historical Society on a rare visit to St. Louis, his hometown. More than 100 attended.
Horne’s lecture, called Black Radicalism: Mexico, Jamaica, and the United States, is part of the African American History Series, the brainchild of such community-oriented people as Jamie Graham, retired Washington University librarian. It was coordinated by Marsha Jordan, public program coordinator.
With an interesting and upbeat style, Horne recalled his childhood here, where he attended Ashland Elementary School and Beaumont High School. He mentioned visiting the Old Court House and its “most important event,” the Dred Scott Case, adding that 2007 will mark the 150th anniversary of that historic ruling, which justified slavery and fueled the Civil War.
“Growing up in such a highly charged atmosphere (of segregation and racial tension) helped to shape my political attitudes,” Horne said. “So I became curious about Jim Crow and why it started to retreat.”
Horne said he found in his research that the dismantling of segregation was influenced by “global alliances that put pressure on the captors of Jim Crow.” For example, during the Cold War (1945-1991), in order for the U.S. to charge the Soviet Union with human rights violations, it had to improve its record at home.
“African Americans were major players in one of the most important events of the 20th Century, the Mexican Revolution,” Horne said.
“Heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, then on the lam from the U.S. authorities, wound up in Mexico where he sought to transform it into a citadel of opposition to white supremacy.”
Generally the Underground Railroad is viewed as going northward, but many runaway slaves escaped to Mexico.
Turning to Horne’s other current book: Ferdinand Smith, a black sailor and union organizer, grew the National Maritime Union to 90,000 members. Horne said it became one of the most powerful unions in the country, with a “stranglehold” on imports and exports. Born in Jamaica, Smith was deported in the early 1950s after trying to organize a global strike.
Horne is interested in the labor movement because the “black community is overwhelmingly working class” and “has always been significant in the U.S.”
Much of Horne’s work – he has written more than 20 books – has been groundbreaking. He has lived throughout the U.S. and the world in such places as Hong Kong and Zimbabwe. His depth and breadth as a writer/researcher are exceptional.
