The UC Santa Barbara Undergraduate Journal of History

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War sparked a wide-spanning and enthusiastic source of support for Ethiopia amongst African Americans.  Black Americans held a deep-rooted political and spiritual connection with the African country, embracing Ethiopianism and perceiving the country as a symbol of Black nationalism while also using the war in Ethiopia to exemplify anti-colonialism rhetoric.  Many believed that in supporting Ethiopia, African Americans were also protecting a crucial part of their identities.  Support efforts were characterized by the foundation of aid organizations, charity drives, public speaking events, and protests; black periodicals' role in generating this support has been relatively obscure.  This research essay attempts to analyze the impact black periodicals played in the African American protest of fascist Italy’s aggressions in Ethiopia.  By examining the writings of famed black authors from Marcus Garvey to Joel Augustus Rogers, the first-hand accounts of volunteer aviator John Robinson, advertisements of protests, fundraisers, and cablegram messages from Ethiopia’s government to audiences in the United States, this essay argues that black newspapers played a foundational role in a multitude of ways that influenced black liberation in the mid-1930s.  In analyzing these periodicals, the essay further argues that despite the U.S. government’s isolationist policies, the reaction of African Americans during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War counteracts with the assumption that the United States was strictly supportive of non-interventionism during events of early pre-World War II fascist aggressions and black Americans should be included in the discussion regarding the landscape of American politics before the United States official entry into the war.