African Americans in the Soviet Union

As Black History Month ends, an overlooked, yet fascinating chapter of history must be retold. African Americans who found opportunity and refuge in the Soviet Union.

From poets to agronomers, these individuals took an unexpected path. They left behind a racially segregated America for a union that promised equality, industrial progress, and a fresh start. Two of the most compelling figures from this era are Langston Hughes and Yosif Stalin Kim Roane, whose experiences reveal the complexities of race, politics, and identity in the USSR.

Langston Hughes in Soviet Central Asia

In 1932, Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes traveled to Soviet Central Asia, formerly known as Turkestan, visiting the beautiful cities of Tashkent, Samarkand, Ashgabat, and Bukhara. He was part of a group of 24 African American artists and intellectuals invited to work on a Soviet film called Black and White, aimed at exposing racism in the U.S.

Hughes was meant to be a screenwriter, but the film was never made. While the majority of the group traveled home, Hughes remained.

Despite Soviet Central Asia being off-limits to most foreign travelers, Hughes was welcomed as an official guest of the Soviet Writers’ Union. The USSR aimed to contrast itself with America’s segregationist policies, and Hughes’s presence fit their narrative. While there, he met poets and even met Tamara Khanum, a famous Uzbek dancer who was the first woman to dance without a face veil.

Hughes witnessed Soviet efforts to promote literacy and economic development among historically marginalized ethnic groups. His experiences shaped his writing, as he drew parallels between Central Asians under Russian rule and African Americans in the U.S.

While in Central Asia, Hughes funded his tour through his writing. He published many works while in Central Asia and bought the rights to some. Hughes became the first American writer translated into a Central Asian language. Langston Hughes’s journey left a lasting impact, reinforcing his commitment to racial and social justice.

Yosif Stalin Kim Roane: The First African American Born in the USSR

While Hughes was making literary history, another African American was making history differently. Yosif Stalin Kim Roane was the first African American born in the Soviet Union, in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR. Yosif was born to parents Joseph and Sadie Roane, originally from Kremlin, Virginia. They left the U.S. in the 1920s after Joseph, an agronomist, struggled to find work due to racial discrimination. He was recruited by Oliver Golden, a Black cotton specialist and George Washington Carver’s former student, who assembled a team of African American agricultural experts to help the Soviets improve cotton production in Uzbekistan.

Agronomists were a respected occupation within the Soviet Union. The Soviets were particularly interested in experts of industrialization in agriculture.

The Roanes agreed and set off to Yangiyul, Uzbekistan. They were offered a house, free healthcare, a maid, and a high salary. Luxuries unheard of for Black Americans at the time. In 1931, their son Yosif was born in Tashkent, named by Soviet officials after Joseph Stalin. But by the late 1930s, Stalin’s Great Terror forced African Americans to choose between giving up U.S. citizenship or leaving. The Roanes returned home in 1937, bringing six-year-old Yosif, who spoke only Russian.

Though he later lost fluency, Yosif’s story remains monumental to the unexpected paths African Americans took in search of opportunity. His parents never spoke ill of the USSR, remembering it as a place where they were treated with dignity.

These stories remind us that Black history isn’t just American history, it’s global. Whether through Langston Hughes’s literary explorations or the Roanes’ contributions to Soviet agriculture, African Americans have shaped and been shaped by the world beyond the U.S.