ABSTRACT
The initial optimism expressed by many African-Americans concerning the possibilities of a new official U.S. approach to issues of race both at home and abroad under the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson was based on more than simply hope. The moment did seem propitious for such a change. Abroad, particularly in Africa, colonialism was in eclipse. As Thomas Noer states, By 1960 France, Britain, and Belgium were largely resigned to the end of colonization. The uprising in Angola in 1961 indicated that eventually Portugal also would be pushed off the continent. At home, the civil rights movement was reaching its climax, with the help of leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., and organizations such as the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Fear of communist penetration of Africa remained strong throughout the Kennedy and Johnson years, often overwhelming considerations of other issues such as race in the construction of U.S. policy toward that continent.
