Afro-German Blog

Kaitlyn Petrando

Writing for Strat/Comm

February 21, 2014

When entering the room to hear speaker Cynthia Chapa I did not know what the topic was going to be about.  What I did know and notice was about how the luncheon had now turned into a non-luncheon because the lunch providers mixed up the times.  Cynthia Chapa handled it well and threw in many jokes about the forgotten lunch to get the talk going. She immediately began talking about the history of African Americans in Germany and how they were a source of entertainment.

 Germany to this day does not have a census that asks for race.  Since the census does not include race, the exact population of Afro Germans is unknown. Studies have been believed to show that the population is steadily growing. (I must say that I have been to Germany for a short time and I did not particularly notice any Afro Germans, so this was the first time I was hearing and being educating on the interesting subject). Obviously as Cynthia kept talking I realized just how prominent and influential Afro Germans are.  Cynthia then began to talk about Auma Obama, who is President Barack Obama’s half sister.  She grew up in Kenya and became interested in studying German. She followed her interests and left Kenya to go all the way to Germany. She continued her German studies and lived there for 16 years.  Auma published a memoir titled “And Then Life Happens.” She made a great impact on Germany while she was there and continues to have much success.

Although I had to leave the non-luncheon early, I learned quite a bit and began talking and asking about Afro Germans to my friends and family. They were just as interested as I and it started a great talk.