‘Jim-Crowed the World Over’: Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and the Idea of the Global South
In 1946, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay published her second book on the United States. In a chapter that connected American racism to imperialism, she wrote, ‘The international colour line has been challenged and stormed by Asia. No more the colonials will allow themselves to be jim-crowed the world over.’ From the 1920s until the 1980s, Kamaladevi challenged white supremacy within India and on the global stage. In the process, she crafted an expansive and intersectional understanding of what would come to be known as the Global South.