BGHRA Digital Archive

Adoptees Across Communities & Borders

First-person writing and resources connecting Black German and Austrian postwar cohorts with Ethiopian, Black French and other transnational adoptee experiences.

Adoption Across Race and Nation: Histories That Cross Borders
Cover / collection artwork: Adoption Across Race and Nation: Histories That Cross Borders. Rights remain with the original creators and publishers. Image sources →

21 records · Collection totals may overlap.

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21 entries · Open a title for its archive record, sources and viewing links.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingA Child from Abroad: The Adoption of Black German Children to Postwar AmericaRecord cover · original image unavailable

Forthcoming June 2027 · Book / reading

A Child from Abroad: The Adoption of Black German Children to Postwar America

Silke Hackenesch

Research on the adoption of Black German children into U.S. families after World War II, bringing archival evidence and personal testimony into Cold War, citizenship and family histories. The former working-title listing has been reconciled with the current BGHRA profile and publisher listing.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Filmmaker / oral-history profileAmandine Gay: adoption, archives and filmmakingRecord cover · original image unavailable

Filmmaker / oral-history profile

Amandine Gay: adoption, archives and filmmaking

Amandine Gay / Concordia Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling

A filmmaker and researcher profile connecting Ouvrir la voix, Une histoire à soi and the Mois des Adopté·es across France, Switzerland, Belgium and Quebec. Links the Black French and transnational adoptee collections.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingBeautiful Dreams: Music and Horses in English and AmharicRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · October 21, 2023 · English/Amharic edition · Book / reading

Beautiful Dreams: Music and Horses in English and Amharic

Ellenore Angelidis and Leyla Angelidis; illustrated by Nahosenay Negussie

A bilingual picture book about imagination, music and horses, published by OHBD Ready Set Go Books. Leyla is an Ethiopian adoptee and a contributor to Lions Roaring Far From Home; BGHRA featured that anthology in 2023. A cultural and literacy resource rather than adoption scholarship.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingBetween Worlds: Ethiopian Adoptee IdentityRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2024 · Book chapter · Book / reading

Between Worlds: Ethiopian Adoptee Identity

Kassaye Berhanu-Mac Donald

A firsthand essay on Ethiopian adoptee identity, organizing and belonging. Chapter 13 of The Global Ethiopian Diaspora: Migrations, Connections, and Belongings, edited by Shimelis Bonsa Gulema, Hewan Girma and Mulugeta F. Dinbabo (Boydell & Brewer), pp. 330–344.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · BGHRA conference recordingBGHRA 2023 Lions Roaring Far from Home: A Global Anthology by Ethiopian AdopteesRecord cover · original image unavailable

2023-02-23 · BGHRA conference recording

BGHRA 2023 Lions Roaring Far from Home: A Global Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees

Kassaye MacDonald; Maureen McCauley; Leyla Angelidis

Lions Roaring Far from Home: A Global Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees. Existing BGHRA 2023 recording connecting the Ethiopian adoptee writing already recommended by BGHRA.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingLions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian AdopteesRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · Adoptee anthology · Book / reading

Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees

Edited by Aselefech Evans, Kassaye Berhanu-MacDonald and Maureen McCauley

Ethiopian adoptees across multiple countries write about family, race, culture and belonging in their own words. BGHRA’s 2023 conference included a presentation with Kassaye MacDonald, Maureen McCauley and Leyla Angelidis.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Research / oral-history projectLost in AdministrationRecord cover · original image unavailable

Research / oral-history project

Lost in Administration

University of Salzburg / Vienna Wiesenthal Institute

Research using life-history interviews and archival records to document children of Black American soldiers and Austrian women, including welfare administration and adoption. Connects the Austrian postwar cohort with BGHRA’s German and transatlantic adoption histories.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
Mixed Blessing

1985 · Book / reading

Mixed Blessing

Doris McMillon, with Michele Sherman

An autobiographical account of the search for a birth mother. Sonya Donaldson’s scholarship, featured on the BGHRA site, reads it alongside Ika Hügel-Marshall’s Invisible Woman to consider Black German girlhood, family separation and belonging.

Archive record →Source & details ↗
BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingÜber Rassismus und Widerstand. Eine US-amerikanisch-deutsch-äthiopische LebensgeschichteRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · September 2019 · Metropol · Book / reading

Über Rassismus und Widerstand. Eine US-amerikanisch-deutsch-äthiopische Lebensgeschichte

Andreas Nakic and Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, with Diane Truly

Andy Nakic’s U.S., German and Ethiopian life history combines autobiographical testimony with historical context on racism, adoption and resistance. Born in the United States and raised in Germany after adoption, he reunited with his mother as an adult. ISBN 978-3-86331-492-7.

Archive record →Source & details ↗