From the late nineteenth century through World War II, popular culture portrayed the American South as a region ensconced in its antebellum past, draped in moonlight and magnolias, and represented by such southern icons as the mammy, the belle, and the chivalrous planter. Karen Cox shows that the chief purveyors of this constructed nostalgia for the Old South were outsiders of the region.

In this account of black protest, Nicholas Grant examines how African Americans engaged with, supported, and were inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement. Bringing black activism into conversation with the foreign policy of both the US and South African governments, this study questions the dominant perception that US-centered anticommunism decimated black international activism.