Seeing Red: Federal Campaigns Against Black Militancy, 1919-1925

by Theodore Kornweibel Jr.

Now in Paper!

"Seeing Red"
Federal Campaigns Against Black Militancy, 1919-1925
Theodore Kornweibel, Jr.

A gripping, painstakingly documented account of a neglected chapter in the history of American political intelligence.

"Kornweibel is an adept storyteller who admits he is drawn to the role of the historian-as-detective....What emerges is a fascinating tale of secret federal agents, many of them blacks, who were willing to take advantage of the color of their skin to spy upon others of their race. And it is a tale of sometimes desperate and frequently angry government officials, including J. Edgar Hoover, who were willing to go to great lengths to try to stop what they perceived as threats to continued white supremacy." --Patrick S. Washburn, Journalism History

Theodore Kornweibel, Jr., Professor of African American history in the Africana Studies Department at San Diego State University, is author of No Crystal Stair and In Search of the Promised Land.

Blacks in the Diaspora--Darlene Clark Hine, John McCluskey, Jr., and David Barry Gaspar,
general editors

Paperback

First published February 1, 1998

Reviews

[Murtaza · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short and meticulous account of the U.S. government's efforts to snuff out black radicalism during the early 20th century, focusing specifically on publications and individuals believed to be tied to Bolshevism and the pan-Africanist Garveyite movement. The book provides a glimpse into the intense paranoia of federal investigators as well as the motivations and reports of some of the black informants who helped undermine these movements, though it is not unsympathetic to the informants predicaments.

There were many parallels between this effort to suppress black radicals and their publications and the current government efforts to snuff out "Islamic radicals." In both cases certain publications and individuals themselves have been viewed as types of inciters, although many of them are simply documenting an agenda of actually existing wrongs. Because the white federal investigators were simple unable to conceive why blacks were so angry about lynchings and inequality, they wrong attributed the growing unrest in the country to radical publications stirring things up. Just like with the Islamic radicals however, the actual number of black Bolsheviks in America was never high (the Garveyites had a bit more traction but their main base was in the Caribbean). Much energy was expended crushing a few hapless socialist organizers but as the government later conceded blacks in America were for the most part too economically oppressed to begin to consider revolutionary politics, a conclusion in line with Marx's own analyses of revolutionary change.

While there is a lot of history laid out here for posterity, the book itself is a bit repetitive at times. The federal government tried to stop a lot of publications, felt paranoid and overblew the level of actual threat. Black Bolshevism never became the threat they feared but it never really was in the first place. If nothing else the federal government ruined the lives of a few eloquent activists for the purpose of snuffing out an ephemeral threat, without even trying to understand why blacks might be attracted to a radical emancipatory ideology in the first place.

[Chris DiGiovanni · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ok book. A necessary topic for certain, Kornweibel’s writing can be rather muddy and hard to follow at points. I found myself wishing for more scholarship in this area.