Porgy and Bess, Soviets and the U.S.: Cold War Cultural Conflicts in Latin America

Porgy & Bess, Soviets and the US: Cold War Cultural Conflicts in Latin America

As the Cold War intensified the 1950s, the USSR pointed
to the racist policies in the United States made evident in the school
desegregation crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas and other southern cities, mob
violence against Afro-Americans, and other segregation policies restricting the
use of public services such as buses. The U.S. response, in part, included the
sending of the opera “Porgy and Bess” on tour to demonstrate another view of
the life of Black Americans. The tour extended to Latin America for much of
1955, and was received, for the most part, with wild enthusiasm. This
presentation examines the opera, the tour, the reception. It is based on a
variety of original and second sources including the George Gershwin collection
in the Library of Congress.