This article examines American travel and performance in Britain in the decades prior to the First World War, arguing that the expression of nationality in this transatlantic context played a profound role in formulating both America’s dominant culture and a culture of opposition advanced by African American performers. It explores this “oppositional” culture in detail, focusing on the transatlantic work of Ida B. Wells and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Both found a sympathetic audience across the Atlantic at a time of increased repression at home. British support opened new avenues for these activists, but also limited the rhetorical possibilities of their work. By bringing into conversation previously separate historiographies on early waves of “Americanization,” the transnational dimensions of various reform movements and the international formation of the Black Atlantic, it illustrates the economic, infrastructural, and racial inequalities that shaped the United States’ emerging national culture.

本文考察了第一次世界大战前几十年美国人在英国的旅行和表演，认为在这种跨大西洋背景下的国籍表达在形成美国的主导文化和非裔美国表演者所倡导的反对文化方面发挥了深远的作用。它详细探讨了这种“对立”文化，重点关注 Ida B. Wells 和 Fisk Jubilee Singers 的跨大西洋工作。在国内压制加剧之际，两人都在大西洋彼岸找到了富有同情心的听众。英国的支持为这些活动家开辟了新途径，但也限制了他们工作的修辞可能性。通过将先前关于“美国化，