Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times

Mabel Murphy Smythe (1918–2006): Black Women and Internationalism

299 Mabel Murphy Smythe (1918–2006) Black Women and Internationalism Mary Rolinson    In June 1981, during her final week as deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa , Mabel Murphy Smythe sat down with Ruth Stutts Njiiri of the Phelps-Stokes Fund for an interview. Expressing her hopes for the future of U.S. diplomacy under the recently inaugurated administration of Ronald Reagan, she declared, We have a sterling asset in the interest that black Americans have shown in African affairs, as well as other affairs—and I wouldn’t for a moment restrict black American input to areas that are related to Africa or even other parts of the [D]iaspora. It seems to me that we have such a special relationship available to us there that Africans respond to, and as a result it is important for them to see a George Dalley or an Ann Holloway or a Mabel Smythe explaining American foreign policy. In qualifying this statement Mabel Smythe revealed a tension she carried within herself throughout her life: pride and identity in both her African heritage and her American citizenship. In her forty-five-year career in such diverse roles as professor, editor, cultural liaison, and U.S. ambassador, she seized opportunities to open doors to women and African Americans while simultaneously furthering peaceful relations, intercultural understanding, and U.S. influence throughout the world. How she became an advocate for people of African ancestry is not as mysterious as her conviction that the U.S. government was essentially a force for good internationally. Her youth was spent in Jim Crow Atlanta, Georgia, during the 1920s and the Depression era 1930s, but her major overseas diplomatic career began in 1965 as wife of the U.S. Ambassador to Syria, where she regularly faced jeers of “imperialist!” She knew from earlier international experiences that the Mabel Murphy Smythe Favorite publicity photo of the diplomat and scholar, c. 1965. Photo in author’s personal collection. Mabel Murphy Smythe 301 United States wielded great power, but not always in ways other nations appreciated or accepted. She wanted to change that because she felt the United States had high ideals and values, but rarely lived up to them in an international context. Despite Mabel and Hugh Smythes’ efforts to represent the best of U.S. intentions toward the Syrian people, they found themselves fleeing hostilities in Damascus in early June 1967. In late May the ever-unflappable Mabel had sent a letter of warning to her parents, Josephine and Harry Murphy, in Atlanta, telling them not to worry and that “we may shortly be evacuated until we see what the Middle East will do.” By June 5 all Americans and embassy staff had evacuated to Rome, and Hugh Smythe took down the U.S. embassy’s flag and left Syria just hours before the Six-Day War began. The hostilities between Israel and the surrounding Arab states led Syria to sever diplomatic ties with the United States, ushering in a tumultuous new phase in Middle East relations. In the context of the last forty-five years of the United States’ Mideast diplomacy, there are few more critical turning points than this one. Mabel and Hugh Smythe represented the United States in Syria precisely when President Lyndon Johnson inserted the United States decisively into the conflict by sponsoring the land-for-security United Nations resolution number 242 that challenged the Arab states to recognize Israel’s right to exist. The Smythes each held doctoral degrees, had prior experience working with the State Department and at the United Nations, and were well aware of the profound implications of their duties as U.S. representatives in this delicate situation . The Johnson administration had selected the Smythes for this sensitive, hardship post based on their proven credentials rather than on their wealth or political influence. In fact, while Americans read news reports of the evacuation and learned of Ambassador and Mrs. Smythe, few realized until they saw photographs that the United States’ diplomats in this crisis were African Americans. Mabel Murphy Smythe’s presence at the center of geopolitics in the 1960s and beyond opens another window on African American women’s diverse forms of activism. What much of the recent historical literature emphasizes is that the 1960s saw many politically engaged African Americans, especially local grassroots women, pouring their energies into achieving legal recognition of their civil rights. In the years after...