"Wir Sind Hier!" (Were Are Here!): The Imapct of 1940s and 1950s African American Media Representation on the Visibility of the German "Brown Babies"

UNCA Author/Contributor (non-UNCA co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Julia Bone (Creator)
Institution
University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA )
Web Site: http://library.unca.edu/
Advisor
Grant Hardy

Abstract: In the midst of the Allied occupation of Germany during and after World War II, the American and German governments both hid from the public a “racial problem.” This problem was the mixed race children of black GIs and white European women, known as “brown babies” in the United States and as “Mischlingskinder” in Germany, a pejorative term meaning “mutt children.” Despite a lack of acknowledgement on part of the German and United States governments, Afro-German children born under these circumstances were regularly published human interest stories in African American magazines such as Ebony, Hue, and Jet. Mainstream media in the United States at the time remained silent on the stories of Afro-German children and the possibility of transnational adoption, thus making the exposure created by African American publications significant for the visibility of the Afro-German narrative to African American communities in the United States.

Additional Information

Publication
Other
Language: English
Date: 2018
Keywords
World War II, mixed race, GIs, Afro-German

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