The Foreign Service Journal, May 2013

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | MAY 2013 37 diversity, but the work that remains to be done. For that reason, it would be useful, even eye-opening, for other minority groups at State to conduct similar research. The Payne Fellowship Program Motivated by a desire to recruit a more diverse work force, both State and USAID have steadily improved their outreach to historically black colleges and minority-serving institutions. One recent example of this—part of a larger Diversity Engage- ment Program USAID is pursuing—is the Payne Fellowship Program, designed to attract outstanding young members of minority groups to careers in international development. Modeled after the Rangel Fellowship at the Department of State, the program is named in honor of a longtime champion of USAID, Representative Donald M. Payne, D-N.J., who passed away last year. Launched in March 2012 at Howard Univer- sity, the fellowship encourages members of minority groups, especially those with financial need, to pursue careers in international development, where they have been historically under-represented. This year, the program plans to award two fellowships val- ued at up to $45,000 annually for two years of graduate study. It also has a dual summer internship component, requiring fellows to gain legislative experience working on international issues for a member of Congress, and to pursue an overseas internship in a USAID mission. Though extremely pleased that we could celebrate the first black diplomat, the first African-American Foreign Service officer, etc., we endeavored to go beyond the firsts. We wanted to collect information about the sec- ond, third, even the 85th black U.S. diplomat, as well. In the next phase of the project we conducted interviews with agency staff, including Senior Foreign Service and Civil Service officials—mission directors, ambassadors, office directors, etc.—to glean any historical data they had collected about their predecessors. We were delighted to learn that a trea- sure trove of such details was housed in the minds of our staff and agency leadership. Our research confirmed that the proportion of African- Americans in leadership posi- tions in the Foreign Service has waned—both overseas and inWashington—compared to the relatively high level maintained from the 1860s through the 1930s. USAID, in particular, has seen low numbers of African-Americans in leadership positions. Of course, State has been around for more than two centuries, whereas USAID is barely 50 years old. So per- haps the disparity shouldn’t be that surprising. Publicizing Our Findings Now that we had aggregated a critical mass of information, we wanted to share it with others. Throughout this process, the team remained in contact with USAID’s and State’s public affairs teams. Both were excited about the project’s potential and offered to host the findings on their respective Web sites as part of their February 2012 Black History Month celebrations. While we appreciated that offer, we instead decided to post the data on Wikipedia (see above). Our page, “African-Ameri- cans in Foreign Policy,” makes the information available perma- nently, and also allows anyone with a bit of HTML experience to contribute names and edit the listings. We invite current, former and aspiring FSOs to review it and contribute to it. Our database has already proved beneficial. First, it is something tangible that a young African-American can point to and say, “Yes, we can.” It also fills an information gap about the Foreign Service that has existed for decades, especially in our schools. And it is a useful reminder for State, USAID and other foreign affairs agencies not only of the progress they’ve made on Attendees at a Black History Month event gather in the Dean Acheson Auditorium at the State Department to celebrate African- American achievement in foreign affairs. Photo credit: Department of State