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The Week in Germany: Culture February 8, 2008 Black History Month: Germany and African Americans In this TWIG exclusive essay, Leroy Hopkins, Jr., Ph.D., Professor
of German at Millersville University in Pennsylvania, provides some interesting
insights into African-American and German relations and Afro-German history
on the occassion of Black History Month in the United States. Since 1985 a new minority has emerged in Germany: Black Germans. Initially self-identified as being Germans of African or African-American descent, Black Germans have been quick to establish links to other marginalized groups such as migrants and Jews. Two documentary publications (Farbe bekennen, 1986 and "The Black Book", 2004), television films, magazines, a growing number of autobiographies and musical and fine art productions are intrinsic elements in the Black German project of determining their cultural identity as Germans in the context of the African diaspora. The largely involuntary displacement of large segments of the indigenous populations of Africa and their subsequent dispersal throughout Europe and especially to the emerging nations and economies of the New World after 1500 constitute the African diaspora. As was the case with the Jewish diaspora, Africans have had to endure discrimination, oppression and occasionally mob violence in their adopted cultures. Despite such negative experiences Africans have, however, made important contributions to their adopted nations' cultural life. African Americans have done the same in America.
America & German culture Nineteenth century America had a special relationship to contemporary German culture. German influence was visible in many aspects of American cultural life and especially in the educational system. While the role of men such as George Ticknor, George Bancroft, Edward Everett, and Karl Follen in this transatlantic exchange are fairly well-known, African-American participation in this germanophilia has only recently been a topic of research. A starting point for African-American interest in things German is difficult to identify. Germans were certainly no strangers to Africans. Germans were involved in European expansion into Africa as early as the seventeenth century when Brandenburg attempted to plant colonies in West Africa and the Caribbean. The Moravian missions commencing after 1730 in those areas as well as North America also created opportunities for Afro-German contact. The much cited Germantown Protest against African slavery of 1688 documents the awareness in this first German settlement of the evils related to chattel slavery. But how did African Americans perceive Germans and their culture? An early example of germanophilia - James W. C. Pennington
An early clue is provided by the Antebellum African-American press. Following contemporary trends there are numerous references to German personalities such as Goethe, Schiller and Jean Paul in the African-American press before 1861. Frederick Douglass wrote a critical article on the German element in the U.S. in which he identified the early migrants as indifferent to the plight of African Americans while lauding the revolutionaries of 1848 as true friends. In a similar vein of a group of African Americans in Cincinnati resolved that the study of the German language would be a "useful adjunct" to their cause, viz. the fight against slavery and the promotion of equal rights for the freemen. An early concrete example of germanophilia can be found in the actions of James W. C. Pennington (1807-1870). A fugitive slave who recorded his early life and escape to Pennsylvania from bondage in Hagerstown, Maryland in his slave narrative entitled "The Fugitive Blacksmith" (1849 in London), Pennington became a leading clergyman in New York and Connecticut. An important focus in his life was self- and group-liberation. In 1841 he had published "The Origin and History of the Colored People" (1841), a historical treatise intended to be used as a textbook. Sent to the World Peace Conference in Frankfurt/Main in 1849 he petitioned the University of Heidelberg to show support for his cause of racial uplift. The result was that he was given an honorary doctorate in Theology. A few years after Pennington received his honorary doctorate Frederick Douglass with the help of Ottilie Assing, niece of Varnhagen von Ense, published his autobiography in Hamburg in the hope of attracting Germans to the anti-slavery campaign. The success or failure of that venture is unclear but Douglass reported in the final version of his autobiography that Ottilie Assing was his contact to German friends in New York who apparently gave some financial support to John Brown. German thinkers as sources of inspiration Clearly to some African Americans of the pre-Civil War era, German culture
and some German thinkers were sources of inspiration and hope for their
own struggle in American society. W.E. B. DuBois reflected this positive
assessment of Germany not only in his decision to pursue academic credentials
at the Berlin University but also in his deep admiration of Bismarck and
Kaiser Wilhelm II that found expression not only in his outward appearance
(DuBois admitted that he had consciously geared his appearance to that
of the Kaiser - minus the many uniforms) but also in the decision to speak
about Bismarck in his valedictory speech at his Fiske graduation and the
almost overwhelming presence of things German in his "Souls of Black
Folk". The Afro-German phenomenon also touched the area of the performing
arts in the nineteenth century.
Leroy Hopkins earned a BA in German/Russian at Millersville in 1966 and a Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University in 1974. He has served on the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and the Black History Advisory Committee of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Since 1983 he has been on the board of the Lancaster County Historical Society where he served three terms as board president. His research interests are local African-American history (esp. in Pennsylvania Dutch country) and the interactions of Africans, African-Americans, Germans, and German-Americans in Europe, America, and Africa. He has published articles on those topics in Europe, Africa, and here in the U.S. He is a member of the Alle Lernen Deutsch committee of the AATG (American
Association of German Teachers) as well as a board member of the BGCS
(Black German Cultural Society) for whom he is collecting and editing
autobiographical statements of Afro-Germans with a connection to the U.S. Links: The Remarkable Life of Hans Massaquoi (Library of Congress) Afro Deutsch (ARTE - in German - includes film, bios) Black Atlantic - website and related links afrodeutsch - community on LiveJournal |
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