African American Art & Culture Complex, San Francisco (CA)

Exhibition; “Our Soldiers’ Stories: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany“
January 13 – April 22, 2011

The San Francisco Arts Commission, Vassar College, the German Historical Institute, and the African American Art and Culture Complex invite you to the opening of an exhibition called Our Soldiers’ Stories: The Civil Rights Struggle, African-American GIs & Germany. This poignant photo exhibition was researched and written by Maria Höhn (Vassar College) and Martin Klimke (German Historical Institute in Washington DC / Heidelberg Center for American Studies, University of Heidelberg) to educate and stimulate dialog about the prominent presence of African Americans in Germany during World War II, a topic that has been looked over for decades.

The research for this exhibition is part of a larger research project on “The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs and Germany,” which was honored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) with the 2009 Julius E. Williams Distinguished Community Service Award.

Visitors and supporters of the exhibition can expect to view photographs of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s visit to Berlin, Angela Davis’s solidarity campaigns in both East and West Germany in the early 1970s, African-American GIs as they collaborate with German student activists to fight racism both in the U.S. military and in German communities.

At the Opening Reception, you’ll have the opportunity to meet the authors of A Breath of Freedom: The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany, Maria Höhn and Martin Klimke. This beautifully illustrated book, inspired by the research project and photo exhibition, examines the experiences of African American GIs in Germany and the unique insights they provide into the civil rights struggle at home and abroad.

Exhibition Opening:
January 13, 2011
6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Introduction by Maria Höhn & Martin Klimke
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762 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
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