Black Russians: The African Diaspora in Russia

 

Afro-Russians, also known as Black Russians, are Africans who have immigrated to Russia over the years. The Metis Foundation reports that there were about 50,000 Afro-Russians in 2009 (Metis Foundation, 2009). While Western European nations engaged in colonization and the transatlantic slave trade, in the past Russia had little direct contact with African people due to its geographical distance and being excluded from colonial expeditions (Hughes, 2013). Consequently, no significant African diaspora existed in Russia.


Despite this historical remoteness, certain Africans did arrive in Russia by special circumstance. One of the most prominent figures of African origin in Russian history is Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who rose to prominence in the Russian Empire. Gannibal was kidnapped as a boy by Ottoman soldiers in Logone (today Cameroon) and then sold to Russian ambassador Fedor Golovin in 1704. He was brought before Tsar Peter the Great, who did not only rescue him but adopted him as his godson (Binyon, 2002). Gannibal became an aristocrat later, holding the empire at both civil and military positions. He is also the maternal great-grandfather of legendary Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (Riasanovsky, 2005). Pushkin, occasionally regarded as the father of Russian literature, embraced his African heritage and made reference to them in some works, indicating Afro-Russian cultural influences on Russian history (Schmidt, 1994).

In Soviet times, immigration of the African descended people into Russia significantly increased. Following the Russian Revolution, the Comintern facilitated African Americans' emigration to the Soviet Union as part of its ideological support for anti-racism and international solidarity. Among such migrants were Oliver John Golden and his wife Bertha Bialek, who led a group of 16 African-American cotton experts, and the celebrated poet Langston Hughes, who traveled with 22 filmmakers (Blakely, 1986). Also, famous individuals such as Paul Robeson and his family moved to the Soviet Union, where some of their descendants remain today (Tucker, 1998).


The second wave of African migration occurred during the Cold War, primarily because the Soviet Union was giving assistance to newly independent African nations. To establish ideological solidarity, scholarships were given to numerous thousands of African students so that they can study in the Soviet Union (Matusevich, 2008). Between the late 1950s and 1990s, approximately 400,000 Africans were educated in the Soviet Union, most of whom had studied at Moscow's Peoples' Friendship University (Adepoju, 2010). The first great influx of African students came in 1957, when the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students was celebrated in Moscow. The inter-racial children of African students and Russian girls at that period were often referred to as "festival children" due to their unique origins and birth environment (Zakharov, 2011).


Afro-Russians played a significant role in shaping the multicultural composition of Russia, and their historical presence still influences the Russian society of today. While their lives were dominated by political and social developments in Russia, the functions of Afro-Russians are an integral part of the history of the country. 


References

Adepoju, A. (2010). International Migration within, to, and from Africa in a Globalized World. Oxford University Press.

Binyon, T. (2002). Pushkin: A Biography. HarperCollins.

Blakely, A. (1986). Russia and the Negro: Blacks in Russian History and Thought. Howard University Press.

Hughes, L. (2013). I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey. Hill and Wang.

Matusevich, M. (2008). Africa in Russia, Russia in Africa: Three Centuries of Encounters. Africa World Press.

Metis Foundation. (2009). Population Estimates of Afro-Russians.

Riasanovsky, N. V. (2005). A History of Russia. Oxford University Press.

Schmidt, R. J. (1994). Cultural Fusion and Historical Identity: The African Legacy in Russian Literature. Routledge.

Tucker, M. (1998). The Soviet Image of Paul Robeson: A Study in Contradictions. University of Illinois Press.

Zakharov, V. (2011). Soviet Africa: Cultural and Political Relations during the Cold War. Cambridge University Press.

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