Date of Award
Bachelor of Arts
French and Francophone Studies
Erika Nelson Mukherjee
Germany, Africans, Africa, Afro-Germans, May Ayim, Audre Lorde, Afro-allemand, Allemagne, Mouvement Afro-Allemande
The history of the presence of Afro-Germans in Germany is a complex path that goes back thousands of years ago. Nevertheless, the fight to be recognized as real Germans was only taken serious in 1980, with the arrival of Audre Lorde, an American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist, to Germany. Audre Lorde initiated the Afro-German movement with Afro-German women including May Ayim, Dagmar Schultz, Katharina Oguntoye, Ika Hügel-Marshall, and many others. Before her arrival, Afro-Germans were alienated from society and were only referred to as “war babies,” “occupation babies,” and many other racist names. So this movement was a way to create an identity for Afro-Germans and Afro-German women in particular. My thesis focuses on this Afro-German movement, beginning with background information of the colonization of Africa by Germany followed by the two World Wars and leading to the life and experiences of Afro-Germans in Germany today.
Zakaria, Oumou-Hani, "L'évolution de la présence et la reconnaissance des Afro-Allemand(e)s en Allemagne, de la colonisation jusqu’à nos jours" (2019). Honors Theses. 2358.