The 1960s: The East Is Red and Black

This chapter follows the media of freedom fighters Mabel and Robert Williams. From Havana and later Beijing, the Williamses produced media that connected political developments in China and Vietnam. This chapter explores the impact of discourses and representations of Third World anti-colonial revolution and guerrilla warfare on the Williamses' constructions of radical black internationalism and depictions of African Americans and Chinese as soul sisters and brothers in arms against American empire. The chapter also examines how masculinist perceptions of anti-imperialist struggle impacted the Williamses' media. Lastly, it mulls over how the shifting international context of the Cold War impacted the Williamses’ political consciousness and their altering relationships to various political regimes.