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Paper short abstract:

This paper aims at highlighting the Japanese view of African Americans at the turn of the twentieth century. By using newspaper articles and books from the Meiji period, it will give a more nuanced account of the hitherto common depiction of Japanese and Black American relations.

Paper long abstract:

The topic of Japanese and African American interactions has enjoyed a growing popularity in recent years. Much has been written on the meaning of modern Japan for Black Americans, with terms such as “model,” “ally,” or “fellow victims of racism” used to point at the importance of the Japanese presence inside Black history. However, much less has been produced on the other side of the story and the research on the Japanese view of Black Americans is relatively scarce. This is surprising, as the time Japan “modernized” itself along Western lines coincided with what historians dubbed the “nadir of Black American history.” Meiji Japanese were therefore bound to encounter the American race problem.

Indeed, the earliest Japanese newspapers from the Meiji period already contain many references to issues surrounding African Americans. When the end of the Russo-Japanese War saw a surge in Japanese emigration to the United States, thereby fueling an already domestic race problem, Japanese immigrants became confronted to the same situation: relegated to the fringes of society as undesirable “colored” people. Accordingly, the Japanese interest in the Black population grew, with numerous authors investigating what was described as the “Black problem.”

It would be mistaken, however, to interpret this as genuine concern for racial equality. Despite the similar situation, both groups came with different standpoints: Black Americans were discriminated by their own government, while Japanese immigrants had a strong state willing to back them up. And this state saw the mistreatment of its citizen as hurtful to national prestige. In this sense, African Americans offered the Japanese an example of what to avoid in order to be respected not only as individuals but also as a nation. Any interest in the plight of African Americans should therefore be seen as highly pragmatic.

The aim of this paper is to nuance the one-sided account of the history of Japanese and African American interactions as well as to introduce new sources that enable us to better comprehend that history.