Solidarity and Suspicion in the Shadow of Bandung: Edith Sampson’s 1955 Middle East Tour

In the summer of 1955, Edith Sampson, an African American attorney from Chicago and former American alternate delegate to the United Nations, visited eight nations under the auspices of the American Friends of the Middle East (AFME). The trip was not Sampson’s first foray into cultural diplomacy, nor her first trip to the region. In 1949, visited Turkey and Lebanon as part of a round-the-world tour sponsored by the popular radio program America’s Town Meeting of the Air. As Cold War intensified, Sampson emerged as one of the State Department’s most valued goodwill ambassadors. Throughout Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia, Sampson denounced Communism and stressed the continuing progress of American race relations. By 1955, Sampson was one of the most experienced and enthusiastic champions of person-to-person diplomacy. This paper will examine Sampson’s 1955 Middle East tour in the context of American Cold War foreign policy objectives and the rise of the non-alignment movement. As an African American woman, Sampson represented two groups traditionally excluded from international diplomatic circles. Sampson’s itinerary included numerous meetings with women’s organizations, colleges, and activists. Throughout her tour, Sampson looked to forge connections with other women of color while bolstering the image of America in the region. In attempting to reconcile these two missions, Sampson navigated a complex terrain of solidarity and suspicion. Sampson also issued a warning that American inaction regarding the Arab refugee crisis would hinder American influence in the region. Without publically questioning American neutrality, Sampson argued that these “festering spots of bitterness” demanded greater attention from American policy makers.