Children of the Liberation

Marion Kraft

Children of the Liberation

Transatlantic Experiences and Perspectives of Black Germans of the Post-War Generation

by Marion Kraft (Volume editor)
©2020, Edited Collection, XXIV, 416 Pages
German Studies

Series: Transnational Cultures, Volume 2

This volume was originally published in German in 2015, commemorating the end of World War II seventy years earlier and acknowledging the contribution of African American soldiers to Germany’s liberation from fascist rule. Using an interdisciplinary approach, it collects the voices of some of the descendants of these World War II heroes. In this volume, Black Germans of this post-war generation relate and analyse their experiences from various perspectives. Historical, political and research essays alongside life writing, interviews and literary texts form a kaleidoscope through which a new perspective on an almost forgotten part of German history and US American–German relationships is conveyed. The collection explores causes and consequences of racism in the past and in the present as well as developing strategies for achieving positive changes.

Cover
Title
Copyright
About the author
About the book
This eBook can be cited
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface to the English Edition
Acknowledgments
Introduction (Marion Kraft)
Part I: Black People in Germany
- Re-presentations and Re-definitions: Black People in Germany in the Past and Present (Marion Kraft)
Part II: Life Writing: Witnessed History
- Else Lindenbeck and Leslie Littles: An African American-German Family History (Lita Littles Wimbley)
- A Long Journey Home: From a German Orphanage to the Black Bourgeoisie – and Back (Ruth E. Spencer)
- Unexpected Encounters with the Past (Roy Merz)
- Which Figure Does Not Belong? About the Impossibility of Belonging (Thomas Usleber)
- Ways Out of Isolation (Ria Cheatom)
- Black Police Officer and Activist (Mike Reichel)
- One Family, Two Continents (Jasmin Eding)
- Crossing Borders, Overcoming Boundaries (Ika Hügel-Marshall)
- Bridges (Helga Emde)
- Germany: A Springtime Tale (Eleonore Wiedenroth-Coulibaly)
Part III: Change of Perspective
- “Because We’re Embarrassed”: Memory, Post-memory and Reflections on “Race” and Rejection (Tracey O. Patton)
- Stories Matter: Experiences of Black German Adoptees in the U.S. (Rosemarie Peña)
- Searching for Traces: Discontinuity and Identity in African American-German Autobiographies (Marion Kraft)
- Black Germans: Social Realities and Problems of a Neglected Minority (Bärbel Kampmann)
- Inclusion: Different Perspectives on a Principle of Human Rights (Judy Gummich)
- African Diaspora: Critical Reflections on a Concept (Marion Kraft)
Part IV: Remembrance of Changes and Breakthroughs
- ADEFRA: How It All Began – a Conversation with Ria Cheatom, Jasmin Eding and Judy Gummich (Ika Hügel-Marshall)
- From Champion Boxer and Prison Inmate to Social Worker: A Conversation with Charly Graf (Marion Kraft)
Part V: The Power of Language: Poems
- Changes (Helga Emde)
- The Ballad of Mr. Sample (Thomas Usleber)
- The Silence (Thomas Usleber)
- The Power of Words – Empowerment (Eleonore Wiedenroth-Coulibaly)
- Distant Connections (May Ayim)
- A Litany for Survival (Audre Lorde)
Selected Bibliography
Appendix: Permissions
Notes on Contributors
Index
Series index

Pages:

XXIV, 416

Year:

2020

ISBN (HARDBACK):

9781788746885 (Active)

ISBN (EPUB):

9781788746908 (Active)

ISBN (PDF):

9781788746892 (Active)

DOI:

10.3726/b14776

Language:

English

Keywords:

Historical and Present Aspects of Black Life in Germany, Life Writing/Witnessed History, Memory and Post-Memory, Reflections on “Race” and Rejections, Black German Adoptees in the U.S., Identity in African American-German Biographies, Social Realities of Black Germans, Inclusion and Human Rights, African Diaspora, Black German Movements

Published:

Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2020. XXIV, 416 pp., 64 fig. b/w

Marion Kraft is an African American–German scholar, retired college and university teacher, lecturer, author, editor and translator. She studied German and American literatures at the universities of Cologne and Frankfurt/Main (Germany) and at the Ohio State University (US) and holds a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Osnabrück (Germany). She has published numerous essays on racism, literature, feminism and the Black movement in Germany and has five books to her credit.

«Children of the Liberation is a milestone in the literature on the diverse history of Black Germans which has developed over the past three decades. For the first time, this anthology unites Black voices from both sides of the Atlantic and raises new issues of research on the interrelatedness of racism in Germany and in the U.S. in the years after World War II. The texts are not «human interest stories,» but rather counter-concepts to a historiography dominated by power structures, and thus groundbreaking for a new definition of transnational identities. This book is an important contribution to political education and should be part of every syllabus dealing with German post-war history.» (Leroy T. Hopkins, Jr., Professor of German Studies, Millersville University, PA)

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Children of the Liberation

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