Transnational Blackness: Re-reading Louise Thompson Patterson’s Encounter with the Soviet Union in 1932
Journal: Slavic Review
Year: 2025

Abstract This article examines African American intellectual Louise Thompson Patterson’s 1932 journey to the Soviet Union as a lens through which to explore the complexities of transnational racial identity across ideological borders. It argues that Patterson’s experiences reveal both her political commitments and the contradictions of Soviet internationalism for Black women seeking alternatives to racial capitalism and gender oppression. Rather than viewing her engagement as naïve or disillusio