SPECIAL: BLACK PEOPLE IN GERMANY

“I’m used to not being German enough, living in this country, but not being African enough to represent Africa in Germany was a new one to me,” writes Jennifer Odusola, an Afro-German, on her experience of being considered not qualified to represent her father’s continent of origin. Thoughtless statements or comments that aren’t meant to ‘offend’ often have ways of …

A particular excerpt of the DW documentary "Afro.Germany" went viral: the touching testimony of one of the oldest Afro-Germans born in Berlin. Here's what can be learned from social media users' hundreds of reactions.

Overcoming barriers is part of every immigrant’s struggle. African women living in Germany have been sharing their experiences in a meeting intended to boost morale and better equip them to deal with life here. Abu-Bakarr Jalloh of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports. A group of women in colourful African dresses danced and sang songs familiar to everyone present. They were neither …

What is it like to be a Black person living in Germany? What does it mean to be excluded from your own society? Prominent guests met recently to discuss these questions and more at the launch of the new multimedia project ‘Afro.Germany’ by the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW). “I used to want to be white,” says Jana Pareigis, …

  The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent undertook its first official visit to Germany from 20 to 27 February to study the human rights situation of Black people in the country. The human rights investigators met members of the Black community in five cities across Germany.Bob Hooda, an engineer originally from Tanzania who was …

The United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent undertook its first official visit to Germany from 20 to 27 February to study the human rights situation of Black people in the country. They met representatives of the Federal and State Governments, Members of Parliament (Bundestag), representatives of national and state-level human rights institutions, and civil society …

The International Decade for People of African Descent, 2015–2024, was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly and adopted on 23 December 2013. The theme of the Decade is “People of African descent: recognition, justice and development”. The Decade highlights the human rights situation of the African diaspora worldwide and aims to fight racial discrimination and create visibility for the contribution …

The journey has been an arduous one. The historian Paulette Reed-Anderson informs us that in 1682, a ship bearing slaves from Africa docked in Hamburg. Twenty-five years later (1707), African musicians are employed in Prussian military units and Mohrenstrasse is christened in Berlin. By 1877, however, the first of the dreadful Völkerschauen (‘ethnographic exhibitions’) were staged in Hamburg and Berlin.  …

Charles Mohamed Huber, MP (Bundestag)  The former TV actor (59) was born in the Bavarian city of Munich to a Senegalese father and a German mother. Huber, who represents the western city of Darmstadt in the Federal Parliament, was the first Black actor in a national TV series, “Der Alte”, where he played the inspector Henry Johnson. The member of …

The Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (Initiative of Black People in Germany or ISD) marked the 30th anniversary of its founding recently. The ISD is the first and the most important group formed by the African diaspora after World War II in this country for the promotion of its interests. Although Blacks have not attained the level of social prominence …

The Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (Initiative of Black People in Germany or ISD Bund e.V.) marked the 30th anniversary of its founding early this year. The ISD is the first and the most important group formed by the African diaspora in this country since 1945 for the promotion of its interests. Although Blacks have not attained the level of …

Dr Daniel Ubani is a constant face at every Nigerian event in Germany. He could be described as a pillar of the community of his countrymen and women in the country.  Dr Ubani actually arrived in Germany in 1966. He studied medicine at Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg from 1966-1972. And from1974-1980, he pursued post-graduate studies which culminated in his qualification …

In 2000, Alberto Adriano, 39, from Mozambique, was brutally killed by drunken neo-Nazis in East Germany, in the city of Dessau.

Dayan Kodua’s book “My Black Skin. Schwarz. Erfolgreich. Deutsch” shows that Black success stories abound in all walks of life in Germany. Melanie Scheuenstuhl reviews the pictorial band of 25 personalities – politicians, designers, physicians, artists, chefs, lawyers, policemen and bus drivers, who tell their very personal stories. In the process of growing up, many of us turned to other …

Virginia Wangare Greiner’s life’s journey prepared her for the prominent role she now plays in the debate on integration in Germany. She married a German expatriate, whom she met while he was working in her native Kenya, in 1978 at the early age of 18. The couple later moved to Germany in 1986, a development that challenged the young woman. …

Afro-German literature African Diasporas is a scholarly examination of the Afro-German literature through a comparison with African-American literature and the role it has played in the creation of a Black community in Germany. Literature has been the chief tool of people of African descent in Germany in their efforts to reclaim their African heritage and carve an identity for themselves …

The strength of Black Berlin lies in the fact that editors Omar Diallo and Joachim Zeller enlisted a large number of authors, some with a migration background, to present an all-round view. Even more interestingly, the authors, who deal with the various phases of Black life in the city during the past three centuries, represent different political and ideological hues. …