An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States

and men to assert their right to citizenship claims and sovereignty within a
new US political domain that claimed social and political reform, but
continued to subjugate people of color all over the world. Du Bois and
Eastman understood these changing times, as well as the connection
between the exploitation of land and labor, both at home and abroad.
Eastman called the reservation system a “miserable prison existence.” 54 Du
Bois argued that, after slavery, those former masters who wanted cheap
labor turned to criminalizing Blacks: “Crime and long sentences for petty
offences have long been used as methods of securing cheap negro labor.” 55
Eastman believed that a future free of colonialism would begin not only
with education but also as soon as the “huge, unwieldy system that has
grown up both at Washington and [on reservations]” ended. 56 He referred,
of course, to the Office of Indian Affairs. Du Bois believed that only
through the equal treatment of Black Americans could a truly democratic
US society emerge. White society would not be able to bring in civilization.
Instead, Du Bois argued, “the destinies of this world will rest ultimately in
the hands of darker nations.” 57
For Du Bois, the URC was significant because “it marked the first time
in the history of mankind when a world congress dared openly and
explicitly to take its stand on the platform of human equality.” “What
impressed me most,” said Eastman, “was the perfect equality of the races.”
He also said that it was a great privilege to see three nationalities “come
together to mutually acquaint themselves with one another’s progress and
racial ideals.” 58 Their attendance was meant not simply to crack the door to
full US citizenship, which was still closed. Rather, it was their attempt to
assert a human rights agenda on a global stage, so that one could be both an
American and a Black American or Native American. This they did on
behalf of all Black and Native Americans.
I have always wondered if Du Bois and Eastman talked at all during
their time in London. Did they give each other the 1911 version of a
dap/pound after their talks (what non-Black people commonly refer to as a
“fist bump”)? Did they think to themselves, “Damn, are we really going to
be able to change these white folks’ mind?” Did they share a smoke?
Maybe enjoyed a Pimm’s? The historical record does not reveal if they
were able to chop it up, and they likely had their own bougie adventures
with friends while in London. However, I do think they both had a great
deal of respect for one another. For these transnational progressives, the