Ideology in U.S. Foreign Relations by Christopher McKnight Nichols

Author:Christopher McKnight Nichols
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: POL011000, Political Science/International Relations/General, POL042000, Political Science/Political Ideologies/General
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2022-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

On Easy Terms with People at Home and Abroad

Given Kittrell’s academic accolades, her path from a poor Black southern woman to a university professor, and her zeal to serve, it is little wonder that the U.S. State Department tapped her for a mission.15 In December 1946, she traveled to Liberia to conduct a six-month study of “nutrition and family life problems of the Liberian people.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt made clear the nation’s interest in improving Liberia’s health conditions because it would not only strengthen diplomatic relations but also serve military interests as American troops remained stationed there after World War II. Kittrell became the first person to explore the possibilities of international cooperation through home economics, but her work was part of a previously existing “all-Negro mission” American technical assistance program during World War II.16

Initially Kittrell was scheduled to begin her evaluation in November. She did not depart until December 22, when the academic semester ended. Thus, although Kittrell may have been ecstatic for the appointment and her first trip outside of the United States, she took up this work on terms that worked for her. She also expanded her visit to research medical facilities in the Gold Coast, arguing that the information was crucial for understanding Liberia’s health needs. She also emerged as a lecturer in Liberia and five neighboring countries. The State Department warned Kittrell not to become “too familiar with the bush people, who would quickly lose respect for her and get out of control,” but she responded that she “felt at home in the world” and “could easily be on terms with people at home and abroad.”17 In the years that followed, Kittrell often related a story to make this point. She told how a community chief verbally reprimanded her for wearing pants and told her that he did not trust nor like her. In response to being called a “bad woman,” Kittrell claimed that she won him over by declaring, “I am a missionary ma!”18 The State Department came to rely on Kittrell’s flexible rhetoric in the years ahead.19

At the end of her stay, Kittrell produced a twenty-one-page report based on more than four thousand Liberians’ diets. She detailed vitamin deficiencies and explained methods to combat them within the home and at the national level. Extending beyond her contract, she reported a good working relationship between Firestone Rubber Company and state leaders, thus commenting on a human rights disaster that captured global attention in the 1930s when news of the forced labor of Indigenous Africans went global.20 While pointing out that a remarkable number of Firestone laborers still suffered from tuberculosis and other respiratory issues, Kittrell was careful not to offer additional comments that might frustrate state leaders in Liberia or the United States or jeopardize her future with the department. As a matter of strategy and out of a genuine belief that the local is also global, she implored the United States to pay attention to the “hidden” and “hollow” hunger occurring within its borders.

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