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Books by Ellen Tarry
The Third Door: The Autobiography of an American Negro Woman
(1955) /
Janie Belle /
My Dog Minty
/
Hezekiah
Horton
Young Jim: The Early Years of James Weldon
Johnson /
The Other Toussaint
/
Saint Katherine Drexel
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Books on A. Philip Randolph
A. Philip Randolph: Pioneer of the Civil Rights
Movement /
A. Philip Randolph: A Life in the Vanguard
A. Philip Randolph: A Biographical Portrait /
A. Philip Randolph and the African American Labor Movement
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Mr. Randolph Visits Ghana
By Ellen Tarry
Listening to A. Philip Randolph, International
President of the brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and first
Negro to become a vice-president of the powerful A. F. L.-C.I.O.,
talk about his recent trip to Africa where he represented American
labor at the Independence Day Ceremonies in Accra, Ghana, was a
great experience. Besides sharing Mr. Randolph's impressions of
this portentous occasion, we also had the privilege of hearing him
discuss his views on the type of opportunity Ghana offers the
American Negro; and to learn that most of the African leaders he
met received their earlier training in Catholic mission schools.
In Mr. Randolph's voice, there was a note of
awe, tinged with the humility found only in the truly great, when
he described his impression of the ceremony which signaled the
birth of Africa's newest nation. he spoke of the tremendous crowd
on the grounds outside the parliament House in Accra which waited
in almost breathless silence for the moment when the cry of
"Freedom! freedom!" could ring out in observance of the
end of years of struggle for independence from great Britain.
"As I stood in the midst of that great
concourse of people on march 6th and, at one minute past 12
o'clock, watched the new red, green and gold flag of Ghana replace
the British colors," he said. "I knew I was witnessing a
part of the African drama which is so bewildering--as regards
scale and scope--that not even the Africans realize its full
import. Though normally imperturbable, i was visibly
touched," Mr. Randolph admitted.
In pursuit of a lighter note, he described the
colorfulness of the crowds attending the various ceremonies; the
women in their gaily flowered skirts and blouses; the men in
toga-styled robes of brilliant hues, with the native chieftains resplendent in ceremonial dress, protected by ornate umbrellas,
which servants held over these native rulers even when indoors.
Any discussion of Ghana takes on added
significance when mention is made of Kwame Nkrumah, prime minister
and head of the incumbent Convention People's Party who was
elected to office while serving a prison term for "unlawful
agitation." Mr. Randolph said he felt Nkrumah was largely
responsible for the startling lack of bitterness on the part of
the people of Ghana toward the British who had ruled them for
almost a century as a result of a pact which was signed by a group
of native chieftains, who had thereby unwittingly transferred most
of their power to England and her civil servants.
Mr. Randolph said Ghana's prime minister had
explained this lack of bitterness to him as being the result of
the determination of the people of the Gold Coast, the Ashanti,
the northern territories and Togoland--the four areas which united
to form Ghana--to achieve "consolidation and freedom, not
revenge."
Mr. Nkrumah's attitude toward the thinking
behind the popular slogan, "Africanization of Africa,"
which is heard throughout Africa and Asia, was of special interest
to Mr. Randolph.
"The prime minister admitted that he looks
forward to the day when his people can man the various agencies
and services of their government." Mr. Randolph said,
"but he maintained that though his administration would be in
complete control of policy, it would be some time before Ghana
would be in a position to dispense with the services of the
British specialists who have kept the wheels of government running
for so many years."
"What does all this mean to the American
Negro?"
we asked. "do you feel that Ghana offers us any
opportunity?"
"I will say this," Mr. Randolph
paused, "Ghana needs technicians. For American Negroes with
technical training who are looking for opportunities, I feel they
will find them in Ghana," and he spoke for several minutes of
the need of this new nation for a broad diversification of its
economy which, he said, is presently tied too closely to the cocoa
crop grown largely in the Ashanti section. he saw great hope for
diversification if and when the Trans-Volta dam is completed. this
one project, he pointed out, would supply enough power to launch
numerous manufacturing industries.
"Do the Ghanaians see a relationship
between their recent struggle for freedom and the American Negro's
fight for civil rights?" we asked.
"Our problem is so different from the
situation with which they were confronted inasmuch as we are
seeking recognition and integration instead of the independence
they sought that I am afraid the relationship is not too obvious
to them," Mr. Randolph explained that the Africans do not
have access to our Negro press, through which they might learn
more of the Negro's fight for the first class citizenship. Though
their leaders are familiar with the problems which face their
American brothers, the masses are more aware of America as a world
power.
"They have heard much about American
policy, pro and con," he continued, "And in considering
the American scene in general, I would say that Vice-president
Nixon was a most valuable and effective ambassador of good-will on
this African trip.
It was impossible to overcome the temptation to
ask Mr. Randolph why he thought the Vice-President of the United
States would travel thousands of miles to spread good-will in
Africa and at the same time refuse to accept the invitation of
Negro leaders to visit our own southern states for the purpose of
observing the manner in which brown Americans are denied their
constitutional rights in Dixie.
Tactfully, Mr. Randolph reminded us that Mr.
Nixon is not the president of the United States and must still
take orders from his superior and the Republican Party.
Being aware that we had strayed from the
subject, asked Mr. Randolph what his impressions were of the youth
of Ghana. he said Mr. Nkrumah and his administration are launching
plans to speed up their educational program as one means of
preparing the future leaders and also cutting the rate of
illiteracy, which is estimated to be between 75 and 80%.
Without knowing that his statement would fall
on prejudiced ears, Mr. Randolph said that most of the African
leaders he met on the trip had been trained in Catholic mission
schools. He said he thought the Catholic missionaries had gotten
closer to the Africans because they had granted the natives more
recognition than had any of the other religious groups. Though
two-thirds of Africa is still pagan, he is of the opinion that,
numerically, Catholicism is second only to Moslemism on that
continent.
Mr. Randolph smiled as he told how he happened
to meet a dignitary well-known to the Catholic reading public.
"I saw a Negro priest standing a few feet from a crowd
attending one of the ceremonies," he said. "I went up
and introduced myself and the priest turned out to be Bishop
Bowers."
 |
The Most Reverend Jospeh O. Bowers, S.V.D.,
Bishop of Accra, whose consecration at Bay St. Louis, Miss., in
1954 attracted world-wide attention, was so pleased that A. Philip
Randolph had introduced himself. He took him on a tour of his
mission school there in Accra.
"If Catholicism and Moslemism are so
strong in Africa," we asked, "what about communism? Is
it a real threat?"
(Photo left) Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago and the
Most Rev. Joseph O. Bowers, SVD, Bishop of Accra, Gold Coast (Ghana)
with Sargent Shriver and other officers of the Chicago Interracial
Council
|
"There is no doubt that Africa is
communism's major target," Mr. Randolph declared. "The
Soviet Union sent the largest delegation of any of the countries
to Ghana and they entertained more lavishly than any of the
others. There was little doubt about their intentions." "Do you foresee a struggle between
Democracy and communism in Africa?"
Mr. Randolph thought a second before he
answered; "I see three separate struggles going on in Africa
at the same time. There is the battle between paganism and
Christianity, then comes the struggle between Catholicism and
Moslemism, and finally the struggle between Democracy and
communism."
As to the outcome of the triple faceted African
struggle, Mr. Randolph had this to say: "First, Christianity
must be divorced from colonialism. Then Democracy, as practiced in
America, must be aware that it will not have wide-spread appeal or
integrity until the American Negro is given full recognition. Both
transformations must takes place if Christianity and Democracy
hope to win in Africa. if, on the other hand, Africa is allowed to
go the way of Red China--" Mr. Randolph shook his head and
the implication of doom needed no further words to reinforce its
meaning.
The wisdom of the charming, copper-colored man
before us who has been leading his people in their fight for
integration more than a quarter of a century, was reflected once
more when we asked if he was of the opinion that the United States
should send an American Negro to Ghana as Ambassador.
"I think it is important," he said,
"that the American Ambassador to Ghana be a person of sound
democratic instincts and possess a high degree of statesmanship,
along with a keen awareness of the world situation. If there are
Negroes in line for this position who possess these qualities,
they might well be screened by the State Department with this in
mind. However, I do not think the Ambassadorship of Ghana should
be limited to persons of color just as I do not feel that American
Negroes in diplomatic should be limited to assignments in African
or Asian countries."
Taking leave of A. Philip Randolph, we could
not help but reflect that he possessed the very qualities he had
underscored as important qualifications for an ambassador who is
charged with the task of representing the United States, whether
the assignment be to the new nation of Ghana, whose birth he had
witnessed, or to a country like Great Britain where diplomacy is a
fine and age-old art.
Source: Interracial Review, May 1957
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updated
11 July 2008 |
