Chapter 1 - Politics and Citizenship

Summary

Articles on politics and citizenship suggest the breadth of Afro-Latin American writers’ political thought and the depth of their political involvement. After achieving national independence, all four countries overturned colonial racial laws and write the principle of full civic and legal equality into their national constitutions. But as the Black newspapers repeatedly argued, constitutional ideals of egalitarian citizenship were consistently undercut and eroded by everyday racism and prejudice. The papers engaged deeply and critically with electoral politics in each context, offering criticism of the ways that traditional parties abused their relationships to Black political clubs, discussion of campaigns for legal change to extend civil rights, the legislative proposals of Black elected officials, and constitutional delegates. The Black press was also crucial to the creation of race-based political parties in Cuba, Brazil, and Uruguay.Black writers further engaged in debates over communism, fascism, authoritarianism, and democracy from the 1930s through the 1950s.