International Relations Scholar Joy Gleason Carew to Speak Sept. 10-11

Dr. Joy Gleason Carew, photo by Akram Burton of RamImages.com

Dr. Joy Gleason Carew — granddaughter of Winston-Salem State University founder, Simon Green Atkins — will speak on “The Audacity to Challenge the Fates: Blacks Who Left the U.S. for the U.S.S.R. in Search of a Better Life,” during a public lecture on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. in K.R. Williams Auditorium.

Prior to her public lecture, Carew will make a presentation to history and social science students on Sept. 10, at 11 a.m. in Room 102 F.L. Atkins Building. Carew will speak on the value of study abroad experiences and foreign language study on Friday, Sept. 11, at 10 a.m. in 228 Hall Patterson Building.  Both are campus-only events.

In her book, Blacks, Reds, and Russians: Sojourners in Search of the Soviet Promise (Rutgers University Press, 2008) Carew tells one of the most compelling, yet little known stories of race relations in the twentieth century —  the account of blacks who chose to leave the United States to be involved in the Soviet Experiment in the 1920s and 1930s. Frustrated by the limitations imposed by racism in their home country, African-Americans were lured by the promise of opportunity abroad.

A number of them settled there, raised families, and became integrated into society. The Soviet economy likewise reaped enormous benefits from the talent and expertise that these individuals brought, and the all around success story became a platform for political leaders to boost their party goals of creating a society where all members were equal.

An extraordinary read

In Blacks, Reds, and Russians, Carew offers insight into the political strategies that often underlie relationships between different peoples and countries. She draws on the autobiographies of key sojourners, including Harry Haywood and Robert Robinson, in addition to the writings of Claude McKay, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes

Interviews with the descendents of figures such as Paul Robeson and Oliver Golden offer rare personal insights into the story of a group of emigrants who, confronted by the daunting challenges of making a life for themselves in a racist United States, found unprecedented opportunities in communist Russia.

Carew teaches Pan-African Studies and directs the study abroad program at the University of Louisville. A longtime proponent of international studies, she has led numerous student and professional groups to the U.S.S.R.

Carew is the daughter of Eliza Atkins Gleason, daughter and only living child of WSSU founder Simon Green Atkins and his wife Oleona Pegram Atkins.  Mrs. Gleason will celebrate her 100th birthday in December.