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In April 1955, twenty-nine nations of Asia and Africa convened in Bandung, Indonesia – the first large-scale summit of newly decolonized countries. The world was still reeling from World War II, with the Cold War dividing East and West, even as a wave of decolonization swept Africa and Asia. U.S. historians note that “representatives from twenty-nine governments of Asian and African nations gathered in Bandung, Indonesia to discuss peace and the role of the Third World in the Cold War, economic development, and decolonization” . In other words, these leaders – many of them former colonial subjects – wanted a…