Timelines

In 1986, Katharina Oguntoye, May Ayim, and Dagmar Schultz published the book "Farbe bekennen: Afro-German Women on the Trails of Their History." This publication illuminates historical connections to Black history in Germany, narrates the stories of Black women, and articulates their experiences with racism, homophobia, and sexism. It was in the course of the editorial meetings during the book's creation that a group emerged, eventually giving rise to the initiatives "Afro-German Women" (ADEFRA) and the "Initiative Black Germans" (ISD). Following the reunification, ISD altered its name to "Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland." Thousands of Black individuals migrated to the GDR, either for educational pursuits, employment, or as political refugees. Some formed families and had children. Despite the existence of anti-racist symbolic policies, Black people continued to encounter racism, facing exoticizing stereotypes, discrimination in their daily lives, and in some cases physical assaults. Towards the end of the 1980s, several of them initiated projects in East Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig aimed at exploring the history of Black Germans, highlighting instances of racism, and collectively shaping their life paths.