African? German? Afro-Germans

Audree Fifer

Blog Post 1

        As we all know, February is solely dedicated as Black History Month. For me, it isn’t just about admiring and paying respect to the history of African-Americans, but learning something new from every February that passes about Black History.
How about you?
         Can you reflect on something new that high school history class may have never taught you?
Well, I have one for you: Afro-Germans. Formally known as “afro-deutsch”, Afro-Germans are a hidden culture to many but one with powerfully distinct roots within African-American history. I don’t know about you but I certainly wasn’t aware of this unique population until last week, at the Kelly Center at Texas Christian University, when Dr. Cynthia Chapa was kind of enough to share her knowledge on the topic. And interesting it was! I learned so much within the hour I was able to attend her lecture that I couldn’t possibly fit all of it in one single blog but, nonetheless, I would love to share some points I found exceptionally interesting:

• ·      Auma Obama, President Obama’s half-sister, secretly left Kenya for her studies where she received her Master’s and Doctorate in Germany
• ·      Paulette Reed-Anderson, renowned African-American author, wrote Rewriting the Footnotes – a story that tells of how Africans were treated in the Colonials as practically invisible
• ·      Paulette Reed-Anderson moved to Germany in 1983 and never left
• ·      Germany had several interests in Africa during Germany Colonialism from 1871-1919
• ·      During this time, mostly African men made the move from Kenya to Germany where they often mated or married German women 
• ·      Mohr (Moor), Neger (Negro), Misching (Mulatto) and Farbig (colored) were previous terms associated with Afro-Germans before “afro-deutsch” was appropriated

Now, it’s your turn to continue celebrating Black History Month and share what you know!