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The Soviet Shadow
If Britain built the pipelines, the Soviets sought to shape the minds that would question who those pipelines served. After Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the Soviet Union moved quickly to establish ties—not through oil concessions, which Britain and other Western firms jealously guarded, but through ideas, education, and solidarity.
Editor’s Note: John Oliver Killens, would have turned 100 years old this year. I could not let the year get away without a tribute to his legacy as a leading African American writer in the 20th century. What follows is my interview of Killens which was published in The Macon Courier in 1979. He transitioned 8 years later.