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 worldwide 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.

For a list of U.S. military bases in Germany, please see here.

For further information about our research initiative, please read our mission statement, download our flyer, or visit our press section.

The oral history section is directed by Maria Höhn (Vassar College), Martin Klimke (GHI Washington), and Maggi Morehouse (JR Henderson Professor of Southern History, University of South Carolina, Aiken). If you want to share your personal experience by contributing to our oral history collection or in any other way, please do not hesitate to contact us at: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! JavaScript muss aktiviert werden, damit sie angezeigt werden kann.

A Breath of Freedom:
The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany

By Maria Höhn and Martin Klimke
Palgrave Macmillan October 2010
> more

“A breakthrough in international history“
Brenda Gayle Plummer, University of Wisconsin-Madison,
author of Rising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935-1960

“An eye-opener ... This book helps increase awareness of the noble contributions of black veterans to our nation“
Bob Filner, Chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee

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