Blackness in 'Clifford's Blues' : Liberating or Imprisoning? Antonia Gentry College

For many African Americans post-American slavery, and especially post World War I, Europe was a place widely talked of as a utopia for young black men. Historical figures from fugitive William Wells Brown to Dubois, from Frederick Douglas to Mary Church Terrell, and from Claude McKay to James Baldwin, described places such as London, Paris, and Berlin as havens for the African American. Places where their identities as black men didn’t inhibit their chances at success, a much different sense of hope and security was offered in Europe than in their own country, the United States of America. For several black artists, the uprising in popularity of Jazz music transformed their lives for the better. Musicians were invited to cities like Paris and Berlin to perform openly for widely accepting white audiences. Post World War I was a time where parts of black identity, rooted in Jazz music, was an attribute that gave African Americans a chance in Europe that they didn’t have before. Fast-forward to the rise of Nazism in Germany, and suddenly the desire to be a part of the European world as a black man is thwarted when the harsh reality of discrimination wedges its way into the everyday lives of Europeans. John A. Williams’ novel, ...