 | Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, Cold Warrior Subjects: Yergan Max 1892–1975; African Americans -- Biography; African American political activists -- Biography; African American intellectuals -- Biography; African Americans -- Politics and government -- 20th century; In his long and fascinating life, black activist and intellectual Max Yergan (1892-1975) traveled on more ground--both literally and figuratively--than any of his impressive contemporaries, which included Adam Clayton Powell, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and A. Phillip Randolph. Yergan rose through the ranks of the "colored" work department of the YMCA, and was among the first black YMCA missionaries in South Africa. His exposure to the brutality of colonial white rule in South Africa caused him to veer away from mainstream, liberal civil rights organizations, and, by the mid-1930s, into the orbit of the Communist Party. A mere decade later, Cold War hysteria and intimidation pushed Yergan away from progressive politics and increasingly toward conservatism. In his later years he even became an apologist for apartheid. Anthony, III David Henry : David H. Anthony III is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Cruz. |
