BGHRA Digital Archive

Books & Readings

Writing by Black communities, research about their histories and related reading across Europe.

Paul Robeson Library at Rutgers University–Camden
Photo: Rutgers University Libraries; existing BGHRA library image. Image sources →

182 records · Collection totals may overlap.

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182 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.

Ach, Kamerun!

Book / reading

Ach, Kamerun!

Kum’a Ndumbe III

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

Afro Shop

Published · January 31, 2014 · Book / reading

Afro Shop

Philipp Khabo Koepsell (editor)

Poetry and graphic art by Afro-German writers and artists explore home, identity, love and everyday resistance.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingAfrozensus 2020: Lebensrealitäten, Rassismuserfahrungen und Empowerment Schwarzer, afrikanischer und afrodiasporischer Menschen in DeutschlandRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2021 · research report on the 2020 survey · Book / reading

Afrozensus 2020: Lebensrealitäten, Rassismuserfahrungen und Empowerment Schwarzer, afrikanischer und afrodiasporischer Menschen in Deutschland

Joshua Kwesi Aikins with the Afrozensus research team

A substantial research report on Black life, discrimination and empowerment in Germany. Free German and English downloads are available.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingAndromeda, Princess of Ethiopia: The Legend in the StarsRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · Bilingual children’s book · Book / reading

Andromeda, Princess of Ethiopia: The Legend in the Stars

Worku Mulat, Ellenore Angelidis and Leyla Angelidis; illustrated by Daniel Getahun

A retelling of the Andromeda story with Ethiopian settings and cultural connections. The publisher lists an English/Amharic edition and describes additional Ethiopian-language editions. A resource for family reading and cultural learning from OHBD Ready Set Go Books.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingAnton Wilhelm Amo: The Intercultural Background of His PhilosophyRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2014 · Book / reading

Anton Wilhelm Amo: The Intercultural Background of His Philosophy

Jacob Emmanuel Mabe; translated by J. Obi Oguejiofor

An African philosopher’s study of Amo’s intellectual development, knowledge, methodology, interpretation, mind and body. Publisher-hosted English text; the related German work is Anton Wilhelm Amo interkulturell gelesen.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingAnton Wilhelm Amo’s Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and BodyRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2020 · Book / reading

Anton Wilhelm Amo’s Philosophical Dissertations on Mind and Body

Anton Wilhelm Amo; edited and translated by Stephen Menn and Justin E. H. Smith

The two 1734 dissertations in Latin with facing English translations, explanatory notes and an extensive introduction. A primary-text starting point for Amo’s arguments about mind, sensation and the living body.

Au nom d’une race

Book / reading

Au nom d’une race

Kum’a Ndumbe III

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

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.

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.

Das Fest der Liebe

Book / reading

Das Fest der Liebe

Kum’a Ndumbe III

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

Decolonial Sweden

Published · December 16, 2024 · Book / reading

Decolonial Sweden

Michael McEachrane and Louis Faye (editors)

Essays connecting Sweden’s colonial histories to present questions of racial identity, Indigenous resistance and international justice. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingDimbámbɛ́ ́lá Sáwá. Mambéndá másū na ɓeɗɛmo ɓásū 1920-1930Record cover · original image unavailable

Book / reading

Dimbámbɛ́ ́lá Sáwá. Mambéndá másū na ɓeɗɛmo ɓásū 1920-1930

Kum’a Ndumbe III

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingDiverse Unfreedoms: The Afterlives and Transformations of Post-Transatlantic BondagesRecord cover · original image unavailable

2019 / 2020 editions — see publication record · Book / reading

Diverse Unfreedoms: The Afterlives and Transformations of Post-Transatlantic Bondages

Sarada Balagopalan, Cati Coe and Keith Michael Green (editors)

An edited collection on the continuing and changing forms of bondage and unfreedom across places and historical periods.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingFremde und Fremd-Sein in der DDR: Zu historischen Ursachen der Fremdenfeindlichkeit in OstdeutschlandRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2003 · Book / reading

Fremde und Fremd-Sein in der DDR: Zu historischen Ursachen der Fremdenfeindlichkeit in Ostdeutschland

Jan C. Behrends, Thomas Lindenberger and Patrice G. Poutrus (editors)

An edited collection investigating how East German institutions and everyday practices shaped exclusion, migration and hostility toward people treated as outsiders.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingGermany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250–1914Record cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2013 · Book / reading

Germany and the Black Diaspora: Points of Contact, 1250–1914

Mischa Honeck, Martin Klimke and Anne Kuhlmann (editors)

A historical collection spanning medieval and Renaissance representations, Black court service, travel, intellectual exchange and the colonial era. Includes chapters by Paul Kaplan, Kate Lowe and Anne Kuhlmann on early histories.

Gesammeltes Schweigen

Published · 2022 · Book / reading

Gesammeltes Schweigen

Heinrich Böll and Sharon Dodua Otoo; edited by Katharina Mevissen and Simon Wahlers

Otoo responds to Böll’s Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen through letters, messages and literary experiments: an imagined conversation across generations.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingHomestory Deutschland: Black Biographies in Historical and in Present TimesRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · English edition announced May 2014; German exhibition catalogue first published 2006 · Book / reading

Homestory Deutschland: Black Biographies in Historical and in Present Times

Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD Bund) e.V.

A collective self-portrait of Black German history, told through biographies spanning three centuries.

La Bible et les Canons

Book / reading

La Bible et les Canons

Bodoulle Moukilo

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

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.

Lumumba II.

Book / reading

Lumumba II.

Kum’a Ndumbe III

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingMiníá má Sáwá – Ɓetélédí na Ɓetɛ́sédí ɓá ƁolóɓaRecord cover · original image unavailable

Book / reading

Miníá má Sáwá – Ɓetélédí na Ɓetɛ́sédí ɓá Ɓolóɓa

Khéops Ndumbe Kum

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

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.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingNarrating African FutureS: In(ter)ventions and Agencies in African and African Diasporic FictionRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2019 · Book / reading

Narrating African FutureS: In(ter)ventions and Agencies in African and African Diasporic Fiction

Susan Arndt and Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard (editors)

An edited collection on African and diasporic visions of the future across literature and other cultural forms.

Nouvelles Interdites

Book / reading

Nouvelles Interdites

Kum’a Ndumbe III

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

Paradis D’enfer. Hell’s Paradise

Book / reading

Paradis D’enfer. Hell’s Paradise

Collectif des jeunes auteurs / Collective of young authors

A publisher-linked book recommendation from BGHRA’s AfricAvenir research guide, connecting African literature, history, language and memory. The individual creator credit is retained separately from the publishing and collection relationship.

Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out

Published · December 4, 1991 · Book / reading

Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out

May Opitz (May Ayim), Katharina Oguntoye and Dagmar Schultz (editors)

History, poetry, interviews, and personal testimony meet in Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out, the English translation of Farbe bekennen. The collection places Black women’s voices at the center of German history and

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingThe Faculty of Sensing: Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm AmoRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2021 · Book / reading

The Faculty of Sensing: Thinking With, Through, and by Anton Wilhelm Amo

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Jule Hillgärtner and Nele Kaczmarek (editors)

Bilingual artistic and scholarly responses to Amo, with contributions by Peggy Piesche, Paulin J. Hountondji and others. Connects philosophy, decolonization, erasure and contemporary art.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingThe Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its LegacyRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 1998 · Book / reading

The Imperialist Imagination: German Colonialism and Its Legacy

Sara Friedrichsmeyer, Sara Lennox and Susanne Zantop (editors)

Essays examining German colonialism and its cultural legacies through literature, visual culture and ideas about race, gender and national identity. Provides historical context for research on belonging and racial formation.

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.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingWeimar through the Lens of Gender: Prostitution Reform, Woman’s Emancipation, and German Democracy, 1919–33Record cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2010 · Book / reading

Weimar through the Lens of Gender: Prostitution Reform, Woman’s Emancipation, and German Democracy, 1919–33

Julia Roos

A political and social history connecting prostitution reform, women’s activism and the contradictions of Weimar democracy. Mentioned in UW–Madison’s Afropean 2026 programme.

BGHRA DIGITAL ARCHIVE · Book / readingWer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann: Mein Leben in DeutschlandRecord cover · original image unavailable

Published · 2011 · Book / reading

Wer hat Angst vorm schwarzen Mann: Mein Leben in Deutschland

Gert Schramm

Schramm’s memoir connects childhood under Nazism, imprisonment in Buchenwald at fifteen and life after 1945. The account of a Black German survivor offers a first-person perspective on racist exclusion, survival and remembrance.

Winter Shorts

Published · October 2015 · Book / reading

Winter Shorts

Clementine Ewokolo Burnley and Sharon Dodua Otoo (editors)

An English-language anthology of winter stories set in German-speaking countries, with writing by Black authors including Otoo, Burnley, Elsa M’bala and Njideka Stephanie Iroh.

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