Social:
Author: Geoffrey H. Winikur
School/Organization:
Carver HSES
Year: 2025
Seminar: The Soviet World in Literature
Grade Level: 9-12
Keywords: Post-Colonialism, Propaganda, Soviet Union, the Cold War, Visual and Cinematic Art
School Subject(s): ELA, English
Our students are living in an era of fraught political peril. The United States is galloping toward fascism, the Russia/Ukraine war is destabilizing Europe and Israel is currently enacting a genocide in Gaza. If Paulo Freire encourages us to “read the word and the world,” it is imperative that humanities teachers offer curricula requiring rigorous thinking and critical analysis. One of the most salient dimensions of the various conflicts, both nationally and globally, is the weaponization of propaganda and “cancel culture”. Consequently, this project partially focused on the use of propaganda throughout Soviet relations with Africa and African Americans. This unit featured a range of Soviet-adjacent texts designed to both denigrate and uplift Black people, and ultimately examine the manner in which Cold War propaganda destroyed independence in the Congo.
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Our students are living in a moment when the United States’ foreign policy is explicitly aligned with the global interests of Putin’s Russia. Most students are probably unaware of the implications of this transformation, so it will be useful if they can discover at least one significant dimension in Soviet/Western relations: the Soviet’s contradictory relationship with both Africa and African-Americans. This unit will examine the trajectory of the Soviet connection to parts of the African diaspora. Students will learn about how the Soviets propagated traditional racist attitudes toward Africa, while also cultivating anti-racist ideology in the interest of global revolution. The main unit of study will focus on the assassination of the Congolese Prime Minister, Pattrice Lumumba, which occurred only six months after the Congo gained independence from Belgium. This unit will feature the Raul Peck’s biopic, Lumumba.
Phase I: Soviet/Africa Research Assignment and Presentation Cornell Note Taking — The Best Way To Take Notes, Explained | Goodnotes Blog Wayland Rudd was an African-American actor who travelled to the Soviet Union in order to appear in a play (Mack, 2018). He also served as a model for Soviet art depicting the Black struggle. Each group member will select a different text. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Students will have two class periods to review content and compose Cornell Notes. Cornell Note Taking — The Best Way To Take Notes, Explained | Goodnotes Blog I will share images from The Wayland Rudd Collection: Exploring Racial Imaginaries in Soviet Visual Culture. Ed. Yevgeniy Fiks, Denise Milstein, and Matvei Yankelevich. New York: Ugly Duckling Presse, 2021. xlviii, 216 pp. Bibliography. Illustrations. Plates. $40.00, hard bound. The Wayland Rudd Collection: Exploring Racial Imaginaries in Soviet Visual Culture Wayland Rudd (1900-1952) | BlackPast.org The Wayland Rudd Collection – The Brooklyn Rail Choice Board Option A: Powerpoint Group creates a powerpoint detailing the life and art of Wayland Rudd. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Students will have two class periods to review content and compose Cornell Notes. Required components: Choice Board Option B: Podcast Students will compose a script based on the life and historical significance of Wayland Rudd. This script will be recorded as a podcast. Podcasts should be 10-15 minutes long. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Required components: Choice Board Option C: Video Students will compose a script based on the life and historical significance of Wayland Rudd. This script will be recorded as a video. Videos should be 10-15 minutes long. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Choice Board Option D: Canva Group creates a slideshow detailing the life and art of Wayland Rudd. Canva should be 15-20 pages in length. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Groups may propose another project design. Students will review art depicting the African decolonization moment. This will expose students to some of the ways in which Soviet art promoted African independence. Each group member will select a different text. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Students will have two class periods to review content and compose Cornell Notes. Cornell Note Taking — The Best Way To Take Notes, Explained | Goodnotes Blog https://mltoday.com/africa-is-fighting-africa-will-win-how-soviet-art-supported-decolonization/ https://artmargins.com/vision-and-communism/ https://www.new-east-archive.org/features/show/5323/red-africa-yevgeniy-fiks-history-soviet-relations-africa-art-ideology Constructions of Africa in Early Soviet Children’s Literature – AAIHS Choice Board Option A: Power Point Group creates a slideshow detailing the role of Soviet art in promoting African decolonization. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Required components: Choice Board Option B: Podcast Students will compose a script detailing the role of Soviet art in promoting African decolonization. This script will be recorded as a podcast. Podcasts should be 10-15 minutes long. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Required components: Choice Board Option C: Video Students brief review of the role of Soviet art in promoting African decolonization. This script will be recorded as a video. Videos should be 10-15 minutes long. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Choice Board Option D: Canva Group creates a Canva detailing the role of Soviet art in promoting African decolonization. Canva should be 15-20 pages in length. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Students will review the various ways in which Soviets and members of the African diaspora forged alliances. Each group member will select a different text. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Students will have two class periods to review content and compose Cornell Notes. Cornell Note Taking — The Best Way To Take Notes, Explained | Goodnotes Blog https://www.aaihs.org/black-october-an-introduction/ https://www.aaihs.org/the-russian-revolution-africa-and-the-diaspora/ Langston Hughes’ Visit to the Soviet Union (1932-1933) | BlackPast.org Opinion | When the Harlem Renaissance Went to Communist Moscow – The New York Times Richard Wright: I Tried to Be a Communist – The Atlantic The following Hughes texts will be exported from Canvas: Langston Hughes, “Moscow and Me,” International Literature 3 (1933): 60-65. Choice Board Option A: Power Point Group creates a slideshow detailing the relationship between the Soviets and artists and intellectuals of the African Diaspora. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Required components: Choice Board Option B: Podcast: Students will compose a script detailing the relationship between the Soviets and artists and intellectuals of the African Diaspora. This script will be recorded as a podcast. Podcasts should be 10-15 minutes long. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Required components: Choice Board Option C: Video Students brief review detailing the relationship between the Soviets and artists and intellectuals of the African Diaspora. This script will be recorded as a video. Videos should be 10-15 minutes long. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Choice Board Option D: Canva Group creates a Canva detailing the relationship between the Soviets and artists and intellectuals of the African Diaspora. Canva should be 15-20 pages in length. Student critique and analysis will be guided by data yielded from their Cornell Notes. Groups may propose another project design. Presentations will occur over three class periods. After the presentations detailed above, we will begin an inquiry into the murky Soviet role in the Congolese independence movement circa 1959-1960. The ultimate focus of this section will be centered around Raoul Peck’s masterful biopic, Lumumba. Raul Peck is one of his generation’s most important filmmakers. His oeuvre includes biopics such as Lumumba and The Young Karl Marx. Sometimes in April is a drama focusing on the 1994 Rwanda genocide. His most famous documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, is an inquiry into the life and words of James Baldwin. As Saint-Just and Pressley- Shannon (2015) put it: “Peck has used the film medium to decenter hegemonic discourses and to preserve memory through larger historical narratives of personal stories (pg. 3).” Consequently, studying Lumumba will offer interesting insight into the impact of the Cold War on the independence movement in the Congo. It is also worth noting that Patrice Lumumba has surged to relevance due to the recent release of the Academy Award nominated documentary, Soundtrack to a Coup D’état.
– YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kikTv0I8XVw. Accessed 27 June 2025. Adi, Hakim. The Russian Revolution, Africa and the Diaspora – AAIHS. 30 Oct. 2017, https://www.aaihs.org/the-russian-revolution-africa-and-the-diaspora/. Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company. https://video.alexanderstreet.com/watch/lumumba. Accessed 27 June 2025. ARTMargins. “Vision and Communism at The Smart Museum (Exhibition Review).” ARTMargins Online, 26 Dec. 2011, https://artmargins.com/vision-and-communism/. Barr, Burlin. “Raoul Peck’s Lumumba and Lumumba: La Mort Du Prophète: On Cultural Amnesia and Historical Erasure.” African Studies Review, vol. 54, no. 1, Apr. 2011, pp. 85–116. Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.1353/arw.2011.0006. Chemam, Melissa. “Melissa on the Road: Raoul Peck: ‘Baldwin and Marx – Same Struggle?’” Melissa on the Road, 22 Feb. 2018, https://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2018/02/raoul-peck-baldwin-and-marx-same.html. Cornell Note Taking — The Best Way To Take Notes, Explained | Goodnotes Blog. https://www.goodnotes.com/blog/cornell-notes. Accessed 27 June 2025. Fiks, Yevgeniy. “The Wayland Rudd Collection: Exploring Racial Imaginaries in Soviet Visual Culture.” BLOK, 20 Jan. 2022. Goff, Samuel, and Yevgeniy Fiks. Art, Image and Ideology: The History of Soviet Relations with Africa Tod in Pictures. 4 Feb. 2016, https://www.new-east-archive.org/features/show/5323/red-africa-yevgeniy-fiks-history-soviet-relations-africa-art-ideology. Gray, Rosie. “Trump Defends White-Nationalist Protesters: ‘Some Very Fine People on Both Sides.’” The Atlantic, 15 Aug. 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/trump-defends-white-nationalist-protesters-some-very-fine-people-on-both-sides/537012/. Greene, Raquel G. Constructions of Africa in Early Soviet Children’s Literature – AAIHS. 31 Oct. 2017, https://www.aaihs.org/constructions-of-africa-in-early-soviet-childrens-literature/. Hoberman, J. “‘Lumumba: Death of a Prophet’: Revisiting a Mythic Figure.” The New York Times, 21 Feb. 2024. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/movies/lumumba-death-of-a-prophet.html. Hughes, Langston. “Moscow and Me.” International Literature 3, 1933, pp. 60–65. —. “Negroes in Moscow: In A Land Where There Is No Jim Crow.” International Literature, vol. 4, 1933, pp. 78–81. —. The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes. Vintage, 1994. Jenkins, Aric. “Read Everything Donald Trump Said About the NFL.” TIME, 23 Sept. 2017, https://time.com/4954684/donald-trump-nfl-speech-anthem-protests/. Kiaer, Christina. Anti-Racism in Early Soviet Visual Culture – AAIHS. 31 Oct. 2017, https://www.aaihs.org/anti-racism-in-early-soviet-visual-culture/. Laroslavtsev, Nicholas. “Langston Hughes’ Visit to the Soviet Union (1932-1933).” BLACKPAST, 8 Mar. 2018, https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/langston-hughes-visit-soviet-union-1932-1933/. Mack, Will. Black Past, https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/rudd-wayland-1900-1952/. MLToday. “‘Africa Is Fighting, Africa Will Win’: How Soviet Art Supported Decolonization.” MLToday, 6 Aug. 2023, https://mltoday.com/africa-is-fighting-africa-will-win-how-soviet-art-supported-decolonization/. “On Lumumba: Death of a Prophet (1991) & the Ongoing Genocide in Congo.” Slow Factory, https://slowfactory.earth/readings/on-lumumba-death-of-a-prophet-1991-and-the-ongoing-genocide-in-congo/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025. ProQuest Ebook Central. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/auth/lib/upenn-ebooks/login.action?returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Febookcentral.proquest.com%2Flib%2Fupenn-ebooks%2Fdetail.action%3FdocID%3D4085794. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025. Raoul Peck’s Movie “Lumumba” a Discussion by D’Lynn Waldron. https://www.dlwaldron.com/Lumumbamovie.html. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025. Shear, Michael D. “Kelly Delivers Fervent Defense of Trump Call to Soldier’s Widow.” The New York Times, 19 Oct. 2017. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/us/politics/john-kelly-son-trump.html. Suchland, Jennifer Wilson and Jennifer. Black October: An Introduction – AAIHS. 30 Oct. 2017, https://www.aaihs.org/black-october-an-introduction/. Sznurkowska, Agata. “The Wayland Rudd Collection: Exploring Racial Imaginaries in Soviet Visual Culture.” BLOK MAGAZINE, 20 Jan. 2022, http://blokmagazine.com/the-wayland-rudd-collection-exploring-racial-imaginaries-in-soviet-visual-culture/. The Lumumba Plot: The Secret History of the CIA and a Cold War Assassination | CSIS Events. https://www.csis.org/events/lumumba-plot-secret-history-cia-and-cold-war-assassination. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025. The Wayland Rudd Collection | The Brooklyn Rail. 30 July 2024, https://brooklynrail.org/2022/03/art_books/The-Wayland-Rudd-Collection/. Vision and Communism | Smart Museum of Art. https://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/exhibitions/vision-and-communism/. Accessed 14 Mar. 2025. Wilson, Jennifer. “Opinion | When the Harlem Renaissance Went to Communist Moscow.” The New York Times, 21 Aug. 2017. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/opinion/when-the-harlem-renaissance-went-to-communist-moscow.html. Wright, Richard. “I Tried to Be a Communist.” The Atlantic, 1 May 2021. The Atlantic, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1944/08/richard-wright-communist/618821/. YouTube Movies. Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. 2025. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a-_5u0V7b4.
Pennsylvania ELA Standards 1.2 Reading Informational Text Students read, understand, and respond to informational text—with an emphasis on comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and making connections among ideas and between texts with focus on textual evidence. CC.1.2.11–12.C Analyze the interaction and development of a complex set of ideas, sequence of events, or specific individuals over the course of the text. CC.1.2.11–12.D Evaluate how an author’s point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. CC.1.2.11–12.E Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging. CC.1.2.11–12.F Evaluate how words and phrases shape meaning and tone in texts. CC.1.2.11–12.G Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. 1.4 Writing Students write for different purposes and audiences. Students write clear and focused text to convey a well-defined perspective and appropriate content. CC.1.4.11–12.A Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately. CC.1.4.11–12.B Write with a sharp, distinct focus identifying topic, task, and audience. CC.1.4.11–12.D Organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a whole; use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text; provide a concluding statement or section that supports the information presented; include formatting when useful to aiding comprehension. CC.1.4.11–12.M Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events. CC.1.4.11–12.N Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple points of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters. CC.1.4.11–12.O Use narrative techniques such as dialogue, description, reflection, multiple plotlines, and pacing to develop experiences, events, and/or characters; use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, settings, and/or characters. CC.1.4.11–12.R Demonstrate a grade-appropriate command of the conventions of standard English grammar, usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. CC.1.2.11–12.A Determine and analyze the relationship between two or more central ideas of a text, including the development and interaction of the central ideas; provide an objective summary of the text. CC.1.2.11–12.B Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly, as well as inferences and conclusions based on and related to an author’s implicit and explicit assumptions and beliefs. CC.1.2.11–12.I Analyze foundational U.S. and world documents of historical, political, and literary significance for their themes, purposes, and rhetorical features. CC.1.2.11–12.J Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college- and career-readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. National Standards for Visual Art Education Content Standard #4: Understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures Achievement Standard: • Students know that the visual arts have both a history and specific relationships to various cultures • Students identify specific works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and places • Students demonstrate how history, culture, and the visual arts can influence each other in making and studying works of art Content Standard #5: Reflecting upon and assessing the characteristics and merits of their work and the work of others Achievement Standard: • Students understand there are various purposes for creating works of visual art • Students describe how people’s experiences influence the development of specific artworks • Students understand there are different responses to specific artworks Content Standard #6: Making connections between visual arts and other disciplines Achievement Standard: • Students understand and use similarities and differences between characteristics of the visual arts and other arts disciplines • Students identify connections between the visual arts and other disciplines in the curriculum