Category: Education & Research

Fellowship Opportunity: Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies

admin
Jan 28 |15:49
James W.C. Pennington

James W.C. Pennington

PRESS RELEASE: “Heidelberg University and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) are proud to announce the creation of a new fellowship honoring James W.C. Pennington, an African American churchman, abolitionist, and pacifist who holds a special place in the history of our university.

Born into slavery in Maryland, Pennington escaped bondage at the age of eighteen. He learned to read and write, and in 1834, became the first black man to attend classes at Yale. Four years later, Pennington was ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church. His devotion to black freedom and nonviolence made Pennington a cherished member of the international peace and abolitionist movements.

At the 1849 World Peace Congress in Paris, Pennington befriended the Heidelberg theologian Friedrich Carové. Impressed with Pennington’s courage and eloquence, Carové persuaded Heidelberg University to confer an honorary doctorate of divinity on the black minister. It was the first time that an African American received this greatest of all academic honors from a European university.

On the occasion of its six-hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary, Heidelberg University wishes to pay tribute to James W.C. Pennington’s extraordinary life, thereby strengthening the ties that bind Germany’s oldest university to the United States and the international academic community.”

For more information on the fellowship and the current call for donations, please see the attached file or visit: http://hca.uni-hd.de/md/hca/pennington.pdf

For the HCA itself, see: http://hca.uni-hd.de/index_en.html

 

Africans Fought for Kaiser and Germany in World War I

admin
Jan 2 |12:22

Black Soldier who fought for Germany in WWI

German African askaris served nobly under General von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa during WWI. Africans also served in the Kaiser’s Army in Europe.

The Colonial Army (Schutztruppe) of the German Empire employed native troops–called askaris–led by German officers and NCOs. The highest concentration of such locally recruited troops was in German East Africa (now Tanzania). The first askaris in German East Africa were organized by the German East Africa Company around 1888. It was during the First World War, however, that the Askaris became the pride of the short-lived German empire.

Askaris were harshly disciplined and well paid

Harshly disciplined–as were all German troops of that time–and well paid–askaris received double the pay of their British counterparts in the King’s African Rifles, and received specialized training from German officers who were themselves subject to an extremely rigorous selection process. Before the onset of war in 1914, the basic Schutztruppe unit in Southeast Africa was the feldkompagnie comprised of seven or eight German officers and NCOs with around 160 askaris, including two machine gun teams. Such small independent commands were often supplemented by tribal irregulars or ruga-ruga.

The well-trained askaris in German East Africa commanded by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck managed to resist numerically superior British, Portuguese and Belgian colonial forces from 1914 until the end of World War I in 1918.

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his askaris‘ exploits in Africa during World War I

General von Lettow-Vorbeck is possibly the most successful guerrilla commander in military history. He and his native askaris are famous for their exploits in German East Africa during World War I. Lettow-Vorbeck was fluent in Swahili, which earned the respect and admiration of his African soldiers. Appointing black officers, he said with conviction, “we are all Africans here.” Lettow-Vorbeck greatly admired his askaris, who displayed a fanatic loyalty in return. He treated them with fairness and shared their hardships.

Read more at Suite101: Africans Fought for Kaiser and Germany in World War I

 

AFRO Deutsch; Afro German 4 BEGINNERS

admin
Nov 22 |16:52


 

Book Review & Synopsis: A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany

admin
Oct 18 |12:24

“By honoring the service of African American soldiers and their families, this powerful and comprehensive book successfully shines a spotlight on the historic intersection between the struggle against Nazism and the emergence of the civil rights movement in the United States. Honest and straightforward in describing the circumstances under which these GIs volunteered to serve, Höhn and Klimke meticulously document their sacrifices and contributions at a pivotal time in history. Acknowledging the present day challenges that remain with respect to racial prejudice and discrimination on both sides of the Atlantic, the book is an important reference and required reading for students, scholars, and the many veterans and families who share their personal experiences.”—Rosemarie Peña, President, Black German Cultural Society.

Synopsis:

Based on the award-winning international research project and photo exhibition “The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany” (www.aacvr-germany.org), this poignant and beautifully illustrated book examines the experiences of African American GIs in Germany and the unique insights they provide into the civil rights struggle at home and abroad. Thanks in large part to its military occupation of Germany after World War II, America?s unresolved civil rights agenda was exposed to worldwide scrutiny as never before.

At the same time, the ambitious U.S. efforts to democratize German society after the defeat of Nazism meant that West Germany encountered American ideas of freedom and democracy to a much larger degree than many other countries. As African American GIs became increasingly politicized, they took on a particular significance for the Civil Rights Movement in light of Germany?s central role in the Cold War. While the effects of the Civil Rights Movement reverberated across the globe, Germany represents a special case that illuminates a remarkable period in American and world history.

The book is based on a joint research initiative of the German Historical Institute, Vassar College, and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, which has been honored by the NAACP in 2009 with the Julius E. Williams Distinguished Community Service Award.

MARIA HÖHN teaches German History at Vassar College, USA and is an established scholar of the American military presence in Germany.

MARTIN KLIMKE is a research fellow at the German Historical Institute (GHI), Washington, DC and the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) at the University of Heidelberg.

Download Flyer

AVAILABLE NOW!

 

The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany

admin
Aug 6 |14:24

The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany

Our research project explores the connection between the U.S. military presence abroad and the advancement of civil rights in the U.S. We investigate the role that African-American GIs played in carrying the civil rights movement to Germany, which was host to the largest contingent of U.S. troops deployed outside the U.S.

Between 1945 and the end of the Cold War, some 15-20 million American soldiers, families and civilian employees lived in Germany. Between 2-3 million of those Americans were African American. By giving voice to their experience and to that of the people who interacted with them, we will expand the story of the African-American civil rights movement beyond the boundaries of the U.S.

This digital archive has three main goals: First, it will gather and preserve materials on an important, but little known chapter of American and African-American history as well as transatlantic relations after the Second World War. Second, it will make these materials available world wide and free of charge to scholars and teachers in the humanities. Third, it will foster the growth of a community of scholars, teachers, and students who are engaged in teaching and learning about the African-American civil rights movement and its reverberations outside the U.S.

Read More…..

NOW ON FACEBOOK!!!

Related Posts with Thumbnails