The first evidence of Black people in German society was seen in the late fifteenth century, through the stereotypical portrayal of African people as primitive. For example,… Read More
Over the course of the American Revolutionary War, Hesse-Kassel contributed over 16,000 troops, and during their time in America, the soldiers came into contact with American slaves. They allied themselves with some of the self-liberated slaves and allowed them to carry supplies, play instruments, and act as scouts/spies. After the end of the war, a minimum of around 100 slaves traveled back to Hesse-Kassel with the Hessian soldiers. The numbers were likely higher because only men of fighting age were recorded in the official census.
The “Scramble for Africa” was the invasion, occupation, division, colonization and annexation of African territory by European powers during the period of New Imperialism, between 1881 and 1914.
The Weimar Republic, the period between the end of World War I and Adolf Hitler coming to power in 1933, is often referred to as Germany’s Golden Years… Read More.
What became known as the Black Shame (die schwarze Schande) took place following Germany’s defeat in World War I. As part of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany’s Rhineland region in the western part of the country was to be occupied by French troops. The French stationed black troops from their various African colonies in Germany and this resulted in a wave of anti-black propaganda. Many Germans felt their country was being violated and shamed by the largest presence of nonwhite individuals on its soil the nation had ever seen.
After World War II, Germany’s interaction with racism has separated postwar. The word Rassismus, or racism, was a sensitive subject because it was directed linked to Hitler and Nazi Germany… Read More
http://www.cinema.de/bilder/toxi,1292680.html?page=4
The idea of blackness in Germany is an ever-changing concept that has existed since the Renaissance era, and continues to be a topic today in Afro-German activist communities. There are two eras that can be closely examined because of a familial connection between the two of them, the Colonial Era and the World War II era… Read More
In the 1980s, black Germans established a movement towards claiming their identity as Afro-Germans. Audre Lorde, an African-American writer, feminist, and activist, visited Berlin, Germany from 1984-1992. Her leadership within this movement fueled the new space created for the Afro-German community.
