This impressive looking group of young Americans aboard the SS Europa in June of 1932 was en route to Moscow to make a movie about something they all knew well: racism in America. Langston Hughes was perhaps the group's star member, but many in the troupe -- Dorothy West, Ted Poston, Louise Thompson, Wayland Rudd, among others -- would have long careers in journalism, activism, writing, and on stage in America and in the Soviet Union.
They were determined to make a difference with this movie project, but production problems and political realities of the time caused the project to shut down only weeks after they arrived. Among the few group members who remained in Moscow, Lloyd Patterson, graduate of Hampton Institute, led a surprising life during some of the USSR's most violent years.
They were determined to make a difference with this movie project, but production problems and political realities of the time caused the project to shut down only weeks after they arrived. Among the few group members who remained in Moscow, Lloyd Patterson, graduate of Hampton Institute, led a surprising life during some of the USSR's most violent years.