As the Chair of the Frankfurt Chapter of DA Germany recently stepped down, a special election for the chair position will be held on Thursday, August 8, 2019, at 7:30pm at the SPD Haus Frankfurt (Fischerfeldstraße 7-11, 60311 Frankfurt; closest stop: “Hospital zum HI.Geist”).

All DA Germany members in the Frankfurt Chapter are eligible to vote in the election. 

All DA Germany members who have been part of the Frankfurt Chapter for at least 28 days by August 8, 2019, are eligible to run for Frankfurt Chapter Chair.

The Frankfurt Chapter Chair’s responsibilities will include organizing local events and volunteer opportunities, regularly communicating with Frankfurt Chapter members, and working together with DA Germany leadership to implement national projects at the chapter level. The position would begin immediately following the election and end in January 2021 (when the next regularly election scheduled).

If you are interested in the position, please submit a written statement of no more than 250 words outlining your qualifications, experience, and goals by Thursday, July 25, 2019, to chair@democratsabroad.de. Submissions will be distributed to all Frankfurt Chapter members at least 10 days prior to the event. Nominations can also be made on the day of the event if there is support for the candidate by a second member present.

For a complete list of election rules, please see this link. 

We had such a positive turn out at April's book club for Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming”, to commemorate Women’s History Month, that we decided offer a second book club opportunity for the summer. The next book we will be reading is "Fascism: A Warning" by Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State (1997-2001), Georgetown professor and diplomat. 

“Anti-democratic leaders are winning democratic elections and some of the world’s savviest politicians are moving closer to tyranny with each passing year." 

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Julia Bryan, Chair - Democrats Abroad

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Democrats Abroad Global Black Caucus adds its voice to those of the NAACP, Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Newport News), former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder, Virginia House Democrats and the Virginia Black Caucus, among many many others, calling for the immediate resignation of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

On February 1st, a right-wing online outlet run by former Breitbart staff published a 1984 photo from Gov. Northam’s Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. The picture features two men, one in blackface, one in full KKK robe and hood. Initially, Northam took responsibility for the ugly, disturbing picture, apologizing for the image taken at age 24. He acknowledged his actions in a written statement and on video but then held a press conference and reversed course. He is now claiming that he does not recall taking the photo and that he isn’t one of the two men pictured.

A week later, after admitting to wearing blackface to impersonate Michael Jackson, and while still leaving unexplained how the racist photo was on his yearbook page in the first place, Gov. Northam has dug in and is refusing to step down. This is unacceptable. Blackface is unacceptable. As the director of the NAACP, Derrick Johnson said February 6, on the Rachel Maddow Show, the history of the KKK and the history of blackface, which is one of many vile social customs used to mock, shame, and oppress African Americans is the history of domestic terrorism. Every African American knows and recognizes this. It’s a history which school administrators, the editors of the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook, and Ralph Northam knew and recognized in 1984. They were all in on the joke. It’s unacceptable.

The Black vote, specifically the Black woman vote---91%---put Northam in the Governor’s mansion. Gov. Northam cannot even bring himself to admit if he was the one in blackface or Klan regalia. Virginians nor the Democratic party continue to support him. He must resign immediately.

Written by GBC Contributor KC Washington in cooperation with the GBC steering committee.

Click below to receive periodic updates from the GOTV and Voting Rights teams regarding our voting rights work.  We will message you when there are important updates and developments to report.

GBC Chair’s Pick: I loved this book. It provided me with a much needed view of the history of the United States. After you finished you will wish the book was longer.

The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist

Paperback: 560 pages

Publisher: Basic Books; Reprint edition (October 25, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0465049664

ISBN-13: 978-0465049660

Americans tend to cast slavery as a pre-modern institution--the nation's original sin, perhaps, but isolated in time and divorced from America's later success. But to do so robs the millions who suffered in bondage of their full legacy. As historian Edward E. Baptist reveals in The Half Has Never Been Told, the expansion of slavery in the first eight decades after American independence drove the evolution and modernization of the United States. In the span of a single lifetime, the South grew from a narrow coastal strip of worn-out tobacco plantations to a continental cotton empire, and the United States grew into a modern, industrial, and capitalist economy. Told through intimate slave narratives, plantation records, newspapers, and the words of politicians, entrepreneurs, and escaped slaves, The Half Has Never Been Told offers a radical new interpretation of American history.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany by Hans J. Massaquoi

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 6, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060959614
ISBN-13: 978-0060959616

An astonishing true tale of how he came of age as a black child in Nazi Germany. The son of a prominent African and a German nurse, Hans remained behind with his mother when Hitler came to power, due to concerns about his fragile health, after his father returned to Liberia. Like other German boys, Hans went to school; like other German boys, he swiftly fell under the Fuhrer's spell. So he was crushed to learn that, as a black child, he was ineligible for the Hitler Youth. His path to a secondary education and an eventual profession was blocked. He now lived in fear that, at any moment, he might hear the Gestapo banging on the door -- or Allied bombs falling on his home. Ironic,, moving, and deeply human, Massaquoi's account of this lonely struggle for survival brims with courage and intelligence.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

On the Pleasures of Owning Persons: The Hidden Face of American Slavery by Professor and Chair Volney Gay (Author)

Publisher: Ipbooks; . ed. edition (July 31, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 099654819X

ISBN-13: 978-0996548199

The real reason Americans owned slaves was not just financial. They did it because they liked it. For the first two centuries of American history, starting with the colonists, slavery was a part of the social, economic, and governmental order. Looking back, many of us find it more comfortable to view slave owners as evil or sociopathic. The startling truth is that many were otherwise admirable.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback

The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson

Hardcover: 368 pages

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1 edition (February 2, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 054438766X

ISBN-13: 978-0544387669

Michael Eric Dyson explores the powerful, surprising way the politics of race have shaped Barack Obama’s identity and groundbreaking presidency. How has President Obama dealt publicly with race—as the national traumas of Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and Walter Scott have played out during his tenure? What can we learn from Obama's major race speeches about his approach to racial conflict and the black criticism it provokes?

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1963)

Hardcover: 192 pages

Publisher: HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON; 1 edition (October 17, 2000)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 003055442X

ISBN-13: 978-0030554421
We are living through something of a Baldwin renaissance, in large part thanks to Raoul Peck’s brilliant documentary I Am Not Your Negro. Any number of Baldwin’s books might earn a place on this list, but The Fire Next Time stands out. Consisting of two essays, one addressed to Baldwin’s nephew, it is a passionate and visceral plea to black and white America. It is the only document I know of that expresses the civil rights case as eloquently as the speeches of Martin Luther King.

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire (1950)

Paperback: 102 pages

Publisher: Monthly Review Press (2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1583670254

ISBN-13: 978-1583670255

Published in 1955, when most of Africa was still the colonial possession of one or other of the European powers, Césaire’s masterwork argues that the European empires were, like all empires, run for the profit of the colonizing powers, rather than the benefit of the colonized peoples. More controversially, Césaire hypothesized that the roots of Nazism could be found in the toxic soil of imperialism.

Available Formats: Paperback

The Black Atlantic by Paul Gilroy (1993)

Paperback: 280 pages

Publisher: Harvard University Press; Reissue edition (March 8, 1993)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0674076060

ISBN-13: 978-0674076068
It was in this book that Gilroy laid out his concept of the “Black Atlantic”, the idea that black culture is essentially a hybrid, a product of centuries of exchange, slavery and movement across the Atlantic. Exploring everything from the lives and work of African American philosophers such as WEB DuBois, to black popular music, Gilroy demonstrates that black culture is both “local” and “global”, and cannot be constrained within any single national culture. It flows across the black Atlantic of the book’s title. The influence of Gilroy’s work can be felt not only in modern scholarship but even in the work of the visual artist John Akomfrah.

Available Formats: Hardcover and Paperback

Roots by Alex Haley (1976)

Hardcover: 704 pages

Publisher: Wings; Reprint edition (September 5, 2000)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0517208601

ISBN-13: 978-0517208601
What turns a great book into a great political book is its impact, as much as its content. Both on the page and later on the television screen, Alex Haley’s masterpiece was a phenomenon. For African-Americans, whose familial links to Africa had been severed by slavery and racism, it was a revelation. Although Haley’s methodology has been criticized, the cultural impact of Roots remains undeniable.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander (2010)

Hardcover: 290 pages

Publisher: The New Press; 1 edition (January 5, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1595581030

ISBN-13: 978-1595581037
Lists of great books tend to focus on works that are old enough to have become firmly established as classics. Michelle Alexander’s book, published just seven years ago, earns its place and already seems prescient. Controversially and passionately, it exposes the crisis that is the mass incarceration of African-American men in post-civil rights America.
Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter (2010)

Hardcover: 512 pages

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (March 15, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0393049345

ISBN-13: 978-0393049343
I’m sometimes nervous of books that use the phrase “white people”, as if all “white people” or all “black people” can be categorized as being a single group. But Painter’s book is a clever history of the idea of “whiteness”. It demonstrates that a number of ethnic groups, whom we today automatically regard as being “white”, were once regarded as being outside of the white race.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Race Matters by Cornel West (1993)

Hardcover: 128 pages

Publisher: Beacon Press; Anniversary edition (December 5, 2017)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 080704122X

ISBN-13: 978-0807041222
Race Matters is to be re-issued later this year to mark its forthcoming 25th anniversary. The timing is grimly pertinent. Across a series of interweaving essays, West argues that racism is so much a part of American history and culture that it can only be addressed and confronted if that reality is confronted – and by Americans of all races.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer (1984)

Paperback: 648 pages

Publisher: Pluto Press; 2 edition (November 6, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 074533072X

ISBN-13: 978-0745330723
In June 1948, Peter Fryer, then a young reporter, was dispatched to Tilbury docks to report on the arrival of the Empire Windrush and the 492 West Indian migrants on board. That led, 36 years later, to the publication of Staying Power. At a time when little on the subject was written, Fryer created an encyclopedic panorama of the black presence in Britain.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback

The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley (1976)

Hardcover: 528 pages

Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reissue edition (September 29, 1992)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0345379756

ISBN-13: 978-0345379757
Co-authored by Alex Haley and based on a series of interviews with Malcolm X, this is one of the greatest biographies of the last century. Through his own life story, and that of the key figures of his troubled years in the underworld of New York, Malcolm bore witness to the racism of 1930s and 40s. It’s impossible to believe he would occupy the cultural position he holds today had the book never been written.

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela (1994)

Hardcover: 507 pages

Publisher: HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON; 1 edition (September 22, 2000)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0030565812

ISBN-13: 978-0030565816
I was in Tanzania when the news of Mandela’s death was announced. I rushed out and bought the only copy of Mandela’s 1994 biography I could find in the book shops of Dar es Salaam – others had evidently felt the same urge to re-read the book. If apartheid was the most perfected and methodically applied system of racial oppression ever devised the Long Walk to Freedom is the ultimate denouncement of it. It is a statement of the obvious that Mandela was one of the great figures of our age. To fully understand how great you have to read his account of the infamous Rivonia trial.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany by Hans J. Massaquoi

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (February 6, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060959614
ISBN-13: 978-0060959616

An astonishing true tale of how he came of age as a black child in Nazi Germany. The son of a prominent African and a German nurse, Hans remained behind with his mother when Hitler came to power, due to concerns about his fragile health, after his father returned to Liberia. Like other German boys, Hans went to school; like other German boys, he swiftly fell under the Fuhrer's spell. So he was crushed to learn that, as a black child, he was ineligible for the Hitler Youth. His path to a secondary education and an eventual profession was blocked. He now lived in fear that, at any moment, he might hear the Gestapo banging on the door -- or Allied bombs falling on his home. Ironic,, moving, and deeply human, Massaquoi's account of this lonely struggle for survival brims with courage and intelligence.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st-Century Revolutions by Dhoruba Bin Wahad,‎ Jamal Joseph,‎ Sekou Odinga

Paperback: 648 pages
Publisher: PM Press (August 15, 2017)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1629633895
ISBN-13: 978-1629633893

In 1969, 21 members of the militant New York branch of the Black Panther Party were rounded up and indicted on multiple charges of violent acts and conspiracies. The membership of the NY 21, which includes the mother of Tupac Shakur, is largely forgotten and unknown. Their legacy, however—reflected upon here in this special edition—provides essential truths which have remained largely hidden.

Available Formats: Kindle and Paperback

Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel E. Joseph

Paperback: 432 pages

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; Reprint edition (July 10, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0805083359

ISBN-13: 978-0805083354

Was the black power movement part of the civil rights movement, or something separate? Joseph, a leading figure in the new black power studies, makes the case for its singularity in the most comprehensive overview of the topic published to date. Rather than seeing black power as a series of unconnected iconic episodes and images – Black Panthers toting guns, the clenched fist salutes at the 1968 Olympics, Angela Davis's loud and proud Afro – Joseph presents a picture of a coherent movement with its own distinct politics and sensibilities.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James

Paperback: 448 pages

Publisher: Vintage; 2 edition (October 23, 1989)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0679724672

ISBN-13: 978-0679724674

This powerful, intensely dramatic book is the definitive account of the Haitian Revolution of 1794-1803, a revolution that began in the wake of the Bastille but became the model for the Third World liberation movements from Africa to Cuba. It is the story of the French colony of San Domingo, a place where the brutality of master toward slave was commonplace and ingeniously refined. And it is the story of a barely literate slave named Toussaint L'Ouverture, who led the black people of San Domingo in a successful struggle against successive invasions by overwhelming French, Spanish, and English forces and in the process helped form the first independent nation in the Caribbean.

Available Formats: Hardcover and Paperback

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times by Harriet A. Washington

Paperback: 528 pages

Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (January 8, 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 076791547X

ISBN-13: 978-0767915472

Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.2 x 8.2 inches

From the era of slavery to the present day, the first full history of black America’s shocking mistreatment as unwilling and unwitting experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment. Medical Apartheid is the first and only comprehensive history of medical experimentation on African Americans. Starting with the earliest encounters between black Americans and Western medical researchers and the racist pseudoscience that resulted, it details the ways both slaves and freedmen were used in hospitals for experiments conducted without their knowledge—a tradition that continues today within some black populations. It reveals how blacks have historically been prey to grave-robbing as well as unauthorized autopsies and dissections. Moving into the twentieth century, it shows how the pseudoscience of eugenics and social Darwinism was used to justify experimental exploitation and shoddy medical treatment of blacks, and the view that they were biologically inferior, oversexed, and unfit for adult responsibilities. Shocking new details about the government’s notorious Tuskegee experiment are revealed, as are similar, less-well-known medical atrocities conducted by the government, the armed forces, prisons, and private institutions.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel E. Joseph

Paperback: 432 pages

Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; Reprint edition (July 10, 2007)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0805083359

The Black Power movement is one of the most misunderstood movements in history. Decades of negative media coverage and stereotypes have contributed to that. Here Peniel Joseph dives in deep and shows where and how the Black Power movement diverged from and overlapped with other racial equality movements, from its inception with Stokely Carmichael at the helm to the rise of the Black Panther Party.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide Paperback – by Carol Anderson

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; Reprint edition (September 5, 2017)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1632864134

ISBN-13: 978-1632864130

From the Civil War to our combustible present, White Rage reframes our continuing conversation about race, chronicling the powerful forces opposed to black progress in America--now in paperback with a new afterword by the author, acclaimed historian Carol Anderson.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Assata: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur

Paperback: 320 pages

Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books; unknown edition (November 1, 2001)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1556520743

ISBN-13: 978-1556520747

On May 2, 1973, Black Panther Assata Shakur (aka JoAnne Chesimard) lay in a hospital, close to death, handcuffed to her bed, while local, state, and federal police attempted to question her about the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that had claimed the life of a white state trooper. Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover's campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur was incarcerated for four years prior to her conviction on flimsy evidence in 1977 as an accomplice to murder. This intensely personal and political autobiography belies the fearsome image of JoAnne Chesimard long projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Assata Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portrays the strengths, weaknesses, and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials. The result is a signal contribution to the literature about growing up Black in America that has already taken its place alongside "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" and the works of Maya Angelou.Two years after her conviction, Assata Shakur escaped from prison. She was given political asylum by Cuba, where she now resides."

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Paperback: 640 pages

Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (October 4, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0679763880

ISBN-13: 978-0679763888

From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. With stunning historical detail, Wilkerson tells this story through the lives of three unique individuals: Ida Mae Gladney, George Starling, and Robert Foster. Wilkerson brilliantly captures their first treacherous and exhausting cross-country trips by car and train and their new lives in colonies that grew into ghettos, as well as how they changed these cities with southern food, faith, and culture and improved them with discipline, drive, and hard work.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Women, Race, & Class by Angela Y. Davis

Paperback: 288 pages

Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books edition (February 12, 1983)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0394713516

ISBN-13: 978-0394713519

A powerful study of the women's liberation movement in the U.S., from abolitionist days to the present, that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders. From the widely revered and legendary political activist and scholar Angela Davis.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover and Paperback

Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday by Angela Y. Davis

Paperback: 464 pages

Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (January 26, 1999)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0679771263

ISBN-13: 978-0679771265

From one of this country's most important intellectuals comes a brilliant analysis of the blues tradition that examines the careers of three crucial black women blues singers through a feminist lens. Angela Davis provides the historical, social, and political contexts with which to reinterpret the performances and lyrics of Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday as powerful articulations of an alternative consciousness profoundly at odds with mainstream American culture.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover and Paperback

Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South by E. Patrick Johnson

Paperback: 592 pages

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; 2 edition (September 1, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0807872261

ISBN-13: 978-0807872260

Giving voice to a population too rarely acknowledged, Sweet Tea collects more than sixty life stories from black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South. E. Patrick Johnson challenges stereotypes of the South as "backward" or "repressive" and offers a window into the ways black gay men negotiate their identities, build community, maintain friendship networks, and find sexual and life partners--often in spaces and activities that appear to be anti-gay. Ultimately, Sweet Tea validates the lives of these black gay men and reinforces the role of storytelling in both African American and southern cultures.

Available Formats: Kindle, Paperback and Audiobook

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension Of American Racism by James W. Loewen

Hardcover: 562 pages

Publisher: New Press, The; 1st, First Printing edition (September 29, 2005)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 156584887X

ISBN-13: 978-1565848870

In this groundbreaking work, bestselling sociologist James W. Loewen, author of the national bestseller Lies My Teacher Told Me, brings to light decades of hidden racial exclusion in America. In a provocative, sweeping analysis of American residential patterns, Loewen uncovers the thousands of “sundown towns”—almost exclusively white towns where it was an unspoken rule that blacks could not live there—that cropped up throughout the twentieth century, most of them located outside of the South. These towns used everything from legal formalities to violence to create homogenous Caucasian communities—and their existence has gone unexamined until now. For the first time, Loewen takes a long, hard look at the history, sociology, and continued existence of these towns, contributing an essential new chapter to the study of American race relations.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

God's Other Children - A London Memoir by Vernal W Scott

Paperback: 606 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 22, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1482741172

ISBN-13: 978-1482741179

Black LGBTQ people have long been an integral part of black history. A crucial part of their more recent history has been captured in this essential non-fiction book, which has won rave reader reviews and recommendations by WH Smith and notables such as Peter Tatchell and Lord Paul Boateng. Born in early 1960s London to Jamaican parents, Vernal has written the only self-published title to be shortlisted for the 2014 Polari First Book Prize. Featuring text and photos over 600 pages, it is a quite astonishing account of Black culture and sexuality, ‘coming out’, the ‘AIDS war years’, gay fatherhood, politics, ‘damaging religion’, hate, love, and more.

Available Formats: Kindle and Paperback

The Black Calhouns: From Civil War to Civil Rights with One African American Family by Gail Lumet Buckley

Hardcover: 336 pages

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press (February 2, 2016)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0802124542

ISBN-13: 978-0802124548

In The Black Calhouns, Gail Lumet Buckley—daughter of actress Lena Horne—delves deep into her family history, detailing the experiences of an extraordinary African-American family from Civil War to Civil Rights.

Available Formats: Kindle, Hardcover, Paperback and Audiobook

Black History Documentary Films

The PBS Series: The African Americans Many Rivers to Cross

This series chronicles the full sweep of African American history, from the origins of slavery on the African continent right up to today�when America has a black president, yet remains a nation deeply divided by race.      

Episode 1: The Black Atlantic (1500-1800)

Episode 2: The Age of Slavery (1800 -1860)

Episode 3: Into the Fire (1861-1896)

Episode 4: Making a way Out of no way (1897-1940)

Episode 5: Rise! (1940 - 1968)

Episode 6: A More Perfect Union (1968 - 2013)

The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 For three decades, the film canisters sat undisturbed in a cellar beneath the Swedish National Broadcasting Company. Inside was roll after roll of startlingly fresh and candid 16mm footage shot in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, all of it focused on the anti-war and Black Power movements. When filmmaker Goran Hugo Olsson discovered the footage, he decided he had a responsibility to shepherd this glimpse of history into the world. With contemporary audio interviews from leading African American artists, activists, musicians and scholars, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 looks at the people, society, culture, and style that fueled an era of convulsive change. Utilizing an innovative format that riffs on the popular 1970s mixtape format, Mixtape is a cinematic and musical journey into the black communities of America.

13TH: A Netflix Original In this thought-provoking documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. Available on Netflix

Eyes on the Prize II: America at the Racial Crossroads 1965–1985

Season 2, Episode 1:The Time Has Come: 1964-1966  Episode focuses on black militancy and the roots of the black power movement. Also tracks the influence of ideas of black separatism and black nationalism on a new generation of blacks and analyzes the long-term impact they had on whites who supported the freedom movement.

Season 2, Episode 2: Two Societies: 1965-1968  Northern cities served as the backdrop for confrontations on a scale the civil rights movement had never seen before the mid-1960s. Scarred by widespread discrimination, black inner-city neighborhoods became sites of crumbling houses, poverty, and street violence. Although the black-led movement for social change and equality in the North had a long history, it had not received the same media attention the struggle in the South had.

Season 2, Episode 3: Power!: 1966-1968 Exploring the influence of the idea of black power on freedom movement. Follows leaders of three black communities in their efforts to gain political and economic power that would enable advancements in employment, housing and education.

Season 2, Episode 4: The Promised Land: 1967-1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. stakes out new ground for himself and the rapidly fragmenting civil rights movement. He is assassinated in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel.

Season 2, Episode 5: Ain't Gonna Shuffle No More: 1964-1972 Call to pride and push for unity galvanize blacks. Cassius Clay challenges America to accept him as Muhammad Ali, who refuses to fight in Vietnam. Students at Howard University fight to bring the growing black consciousness movement and their African heritage inside the walls of the institution.

Season 2, Episode 6: A Nation of Law?: 1968-1971 Black activism is increasingly met with violent and unethical response from local and federal law enforcement. A five-day inmate takeover at Attica Prison calls the public's attention to conditions there leaves 43 dead: 39 killed by police.

Season 2, Episode 7: The Keys to the Kingdom: 1974-1980 In the 1970s, anti-discrimination rights are put to the test. Boston whites violently resist federal school desegregation order. Atlanta's mayor Jackson proves affirmative action can work, but Bakke decision challenges that policy.

Season 2, Episode 8: Back to the Movement: 1979-Mid 1980s Episode explores new and old challenges that black communities faced 25 years after civil rights struggle began. It follows black communities in Miami and Chicago and chronicles their dramatically different responses to these challenges.

The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela This 2-hour PBS FRONTLINE documentary covers Nelson Mandela's amazing life story, from his radical political activism in Johannesburg as a youth to his over 20-year imprisonment, and then to his remarkable rise as the President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 in which he presided over the dismantling of apartheid. This documentary features excellent footage from all periods in Mandela's life along with interviews of the people closest to him. It's a story that must be heard to be believed.

For Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots A two-part, four-hour documentary series honoring African-American servicemen and women.

The Trials of Muhammad Ali (2013) investigates its extraordinary and often complex subject's life outside the boxing ring. From joining the controversial Nation of Islam and changing his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, to his refusal to serve in the Vietnam War in the name of protesting racial inequality, to his global humanitarian work, Muhammad Ali remains an inspiring and controversial figure. Outspoken and passionate in his beliefs, Ali found himself in the center of America's controversies over race, religion, and war. Available on Amazon Video and  iTunes.

Black America Since MLK:And Still I Rise parts 1-4 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. embarks on a deeply personal journey through the last fifty years of African American history. Joined by leading scholars, celebrities, and a dynamic cast of people who shaped these years, Gates travels from the victories of the civil rights movement up to today, asking profound questions about the state of black America—and our nation as a whole.

Parts 1 & 2 Parts 3 & 4

The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)  The story of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

42 (2013) The story of Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Available on Amazon Video, iTunes.

Remember the Titans (2000) Based on a true story, in 1971, a court order forces three high schools in Alexandria, Virginia (two white, one African-American), to integrate their student bodies and faculties for the first time. Denzel Washington stars as the coach of a newly integrated football team in Virginia. A high school football coach finds himself fighting for stakes much higher than the State Championship in this drama based on actual events.  Available on iTunes.

Glory (1989) The film is about one of the first military units of the Union Army, during the American Civil War, to consist entirely of African-American men (except for its officers), as told from the point of view of Colonel Shaw, its white commanding officer. The regiment is known especially for its heroic actions at Fort Wagner. Available on Amazon Video and  iTunes.

Adam Clayton Powell (1989) The film delves into the gripping life and career of the most influential and flamboyant civil rights leader in America in the '30s, '40s and '50s. Narrated by civil rights activist Julian Bond and resplendent with rich archival footage and candid interviews with those who knew him best, this tell-all documentary mines the good, bad, and ugly acts of Powell's illustrious but controversial career - the multiple marriages, the uproarious taunting of the white establishment, his desegregation of Congress, and his shameful smearing of Martin Luther King, Jr. from self-imposed exile on the island of Bimini.Available on Amazon Video and  iTunes.

Malcolm X (1992) Spike Lee’s Malcolm X stars Denzel Washington as one of black history’s most revolutionary leaders. This famous biopic chronicles the activist’s life up until his assassination in 1965.

Race (2016) Race is a biopic film about Jesse Owens, the famed track and field athlete who endured racial discrimination and adversity on his way to winning 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, a record that remained unbroken for 48 years. Despite his victory, Owens couldn’t even sit in the front of a bus when he returned home to the US.

Girlhood (2014) Selected to open the 2014 Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight, this French film depicts a young girl’s coming of age and provides a fresh look into growing up black and poor in a Paris housing project. Girlhood reminds viewers that girls’ and women’s empowerment is a universal issue.

Dear White People (2014) Dear White People tells the story of a group of black college students who grapple with issues of race, sexual orientation, and what it’s like to not fit in at a predominantly white university. The film, which won the Jury Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, brings much needed attention to racial tension that exist on college campuses in the 21st century.

The Secret Life of Bees (2008) Based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd, the film follows 14-year-old Lily Owens (Dakota Fanning) as she runs away from her abusive father with her caregiver (Jennifer Hudson). The pair is taken in by the Boatwright sisters (Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Sophie Okonedo), who are more connected to Lily’s past than it might appear.

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) Also based on a true story, The Pursuit of Happyness follows single father Chris Gardner as he fights to survive after he and his son are evicted from their home right when he is set to begin an internship that has the potential to change both of their lives for the better.

Fruitvale Station (2013) The film follows the last day in the life of Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan), a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who was murdered by police on New Year’s Day 2009. By giving such a tight 24-hour look at Grant’s life, Fruitvale Station really forces audiences to see him as a whole person and not just another headline — an important message in a world where black men are murdered so often that people seem to become numb to the fact that they are human beings who have families, dreams, and fears just like everyone else.

12 Years A Slave (2013) This film, directed by Steve McQueen, won three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress. It is based on the memoir of Solomon Northup, a free man who, due to a tragic betrayal, was sold illegally into slavery in 1841. He lived out the next 12 years of his life on a plantation in Louisiana. This film chronicles his story.

Moonlight (2016) Chiron, the protagonist, is played by three different actors throughout the film. His mother is an addict, he gets mercilessly bullied at school and his father is absent. This is not the recipe for a successful life. To add to that, the only role model he has is a drug dealer called Juan. With such an upbringing, Chiron inevitably ends up in a life of crime, but he has a secret that is ashamedly still taboo in the black community. Moonlight offers the other end of the spectrum so rarely captured in film of what goes on behind the tough exterior that comes with blackness and how vulnerability in a world that sees your race as subordinate is a dangerous thing.

The Color Purple (1985)  What can we say about this 1980s classic that gave Oprah her Oscar and gave us one of Whoopie Goldberg’s most iconic roles. Based on a novel by Alice Walker, this is a must-watch whether you’ve seen it before or not. A black Southern woman struggles to find her identity after suffering abuse from her father and others over four decades.

What Happened, Miss Simone? (2015)  Nina Simone is one of the most famous voices of a generation, but many today don’t know that she was also a vocal black rights and women’s rights activist. Living life out loud, Simone was incredible, and her life was fascinating.

Hidden Figures (2016) The true story of the black women who helped propel America into the space race.

Marshall (2017) Based on a true story, MARSHALL follows future Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, as he defends a black man from sexual assault charges against his white employer.

Selma (2014) A chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.

4 Little Girls (1997) A documentary of the notorious racial terrorist bombing of an African American church during the Civil Rights Movement.

Amistad (1997) In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.

The recommendations below represents only a fraction of information available about Black History. If you have any recommendations you would like to share, please let us know at blackcaucus@democratsabroard.org. All documentaries, films and book are available for many sources. Where links are provided, they are only suggested sources. Please use the sources you are most comfortable with. 

Documentary Films

Feature Films

Books for Adults

Books for Children

Articles to Discuss

As we enter into November, many of you may be thinking back to last year and the 2016 elections. It may be hard to believe that it has already almost been one year of Trump and the Republican-led Congress, but we hope that this one-year anniversary of the election helps to remind you of why it will be so important to vote in 2018 during the midterms and in any of the elections this year.

There are elections on November 7, 2017 in Virginia, Utah, New Jersey, Georgia, Washington, Michigan, Maine, Mississippi, and South Carolina. The Oklahoma State Legislature is also having a Special Elections on November 14, 2017. Alabama is holding a Special Election for Jeff Sessions U.S. Senate seat on December 12, 2017. Click on any of the states to get more information on the election.

To register to vote and/or request your overseas absentee ballot for any of these elections, go to VoteFromAbroad.org and complete the form to request an absentee ballot. Print, sign and send the form to your election office to receive a ballot for the election. Many states accept scanned forms by email or fax.

Many of our chapters will be start off November by hosting events marking the one-year anniversary, but don’t worry, this month will end with several of our chapters also hosting fun Thanksgiving get-togethers. Getting together with like-minded people will help bolster your spirits in these times.

We hope that you will be able to find an event going on near you that you will be able to join. Be sure to check out the Noteworthy News and Information section. Keep #Resisting and we’ll get through this together.

Featured Events

Attend the Emily's List Webinar! - November 02 · 8:00pm - Emily's List President Stephanie Schirock speaks with the Global Women's Caucus. Since it was founded in 1985, Emily's List has trained and supported thousands of Democratic, pro-choice women to run for office. Now they have started "Run to Win," a national recruitment and training program providing in-person training, webinars and other resources to increase women's participation across all levels of government. Join us and hear about the tremendous difference Emily's List continues to make.

Obama Portrait Exhibition in Berlin - Opens November 04, 2017 - The exhibition “Obama: An Intimate Portrait” will feature 65 photos by official Obama White House photographer Pete Souza. It is the first exhibition about the Obama Presidency in Germany. The exhibition will be on display at the Museum The Kennedys until March 4, 2018.

Thanksgiving Dinners

• Thanksgiving Feast with all the trimmings in Wiesbaden - Thursday, November 23 · 6:00pm - RSVP via the DA website or contact Beverly Seebach
• NRW Thanksgiving Potluck in Schladern - Saturday, November 25 · 12:00 pm RSVP/E-Mail John Grosser
• Thanksgiving Potluck in Heidelberg - Sunday, November 26 · 12:00pm - The turkey will be provided and attendees are asked to bring a side dish. RSVP via the DA website or contact Nancy Schimkat
• Göttingen Annual Thanksgiving Celebration - Sunday, November 26 · 5:00 pm - Turkey, vegan "faux turkey" with all the trimmings.RSVP via the DA website or contact Anne Marie Bessette

*For more holiday events, please click here.*

Events

Precinct Elections And One Year Since The Election Reflection in Bielefeld - Monday, November 06 · 7:00 pm

November Workshop: Talking Politics with Conservative Relatives in Berlin - Tuesday, November 07 · 7:30 pm -What does science tell us about how to talk politics with people we disagree with? Joanna Mikulski, an expert in behavior change communications, will give a fun and interactive workshop designed to help you put the best ideas from research to use when communicating about hot or sensitive topics.

November 9th: 1 year later… in Hamburg - Thursday, November 09 · 12:00 pm - One year after waking up to the shock that remains an unavoidable part of our lives, we want to come together and remember what we are fighting for, and what is at stake.

One Year Later: The Future Of The Party in Münster - Monday, November 13 · 6:30 pm

U.S. Climate Policy after COP23 in Bonn - Monday, November 20 · 7:00 pm - With the UN Climate Conference (COP23) being held in Bonn, join DA in the days following the conference for a panel discussion on the event and its meaning for the future of U.S. climate policy.

Chapter and Precinct Meetings

Drinks With Democrats In Bamberg Thursday, November 02 · 6:00 pm

November Chapter Meeting In Stuttgart Friday, November 03 · 7:00 pm

Heidelberg Chapter Monthly Meeting Friday, November 03 · 7:00 pm

Munich Chapter Monthly Meeting Sunday, November 08 · 7:00 pm

Wiesbaden/Mainz Chapter Monthly Meeting Thursday, November 09 · 7:00 pm

Freiburg/Konstanz Precinct Meeting Saturday, November 11· 12:00 pm

Noteworthy News and Information

Join our new Global Black Caucus (GBC)! Membership in the GBC is open to anyone who supports the goals of human rights and equality for everyone.

Democrats Abroad is asking you to GIVE to WIN, and be a part of political change. Every dollar we raise helps move the dial in the US Congress and Senate from red back to blue. In 2018, it's really important that we expand the overseas voter base. We all know what is at stake for our families and friends, our country and the world, if things remain as they are for next 6 years. All the money you donate goes to keeping our online tools functioning, advertising to find more American's abroad and promoting the issues you care about to our representatives. A donation today, large or small, will make a big difference in 2018. Please Give to Win.

Now Available: The 2018 Global Women's Caucus Calendar celebrating women’s firsts These high-quality calendars, celebrating women's firsts, make wonderful Christmas gifts. Calendars should begin shipping during the first two weeks of November. Order Today!

2018 Germany Annual General Meeting in Hamburg - Friday, February 23 - Sunday, February 25 2018- Join us in Hamburg next year to learn more about how you can be an active part of getting out the vote, meet other democrats living in Germany and give your input on the DAG political process. Keep your eyes out for more information in the coming weeks.

Check out our RESISTANCE merchandise. We have t-shirts, buttons and tote bags with new and classic DA designs. All proceeds will go to help support our efforts for Get Out The Vote in 2018. Order today.

Save the date 21 January 2018. We will celebrate the one year anniversary of the Women’s March. There will be lots of anniversary events around Germany and around the world.

Follow Democrats Abroad Germany on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Please mark your calendars for the next Kaiserslautern Chapter meeting on Monday, October 30th at 5:30 p.m. at the Spinnrädl in Kaiserslautern. Our special guest will be Will Bakker, Democrats Abroad global executive committee member, EMEA Regional Vice Chair, Luxembourg Chair and acting-chair for the Voting Rights group.

Mr. Bakker will lead a discussion on the following topics:

• DA's overall strategy and goals for winning in 2018.At the global level, the grave need to turn out the vote and win in 2018 means going beyond our usual reach in midterms: phone banking to US-based voters + identifying thousands of Americans living in Germany who are not members and motivating them to vote using a broad range of tools.

• Republican dismantling of voting infrastructure for overseas voters in their proposed budgets.

• Kris Kobach's "Commission" for voter suppression and what that tells us about how Republicans want to suppress the overseas vote.
• Positives on voting at the state level: fixing the disenfranchisement of "never resided" citizens by DA lobbying at the state level.

WHEN: October 30, 2017, 5:30pm - 8:30pm

WHERE: Spinnrädl Restaurant
Schillerstraße 1, Kaiserslautern 67655, Germany

It should be a lively and informative discussion. If need more information please contact the Chapter Chair, Terese Sarno.

Please RSVP for this event.

We hope to see you there.

With 59 people dead and over 500 people injured in the recent shooting in Las Vegas, we can no longer sit back and allow our country to be used as a shooting gallery for people with problems.

This continued gun violence is unacceptable and we need to make the lives of our representatives uncomfortable. Today we begin a campaign to End Gun Violence. Please email, tweet, Facebook post or call your governors, state and federal representatives with one or more of these simple messages. Click the links to download shareable graphics aka memes.

Stricter gun laws now!

We need tougher background checks!

Reinstate the Federal Assault Weapons Ban!

Make America Safe Again!

Stop the killing!

Doing Nothing About Gun Violence Is No Longer Acceptable!

Overturn Stand Your Ground laws!

Close the gun show loophole!

Overturn open carry laws!

End the slaughter!

Use this link to find government representatives from city mayors to senators and their contact and social media information: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

If you would like to call, click here for a sample call script:

If you would like to email, click here for sample email script:

A Tweet Storm Is Planned Starting Friday Through Sunday. Everyone possible should participate. If you don't have a twitter account you can quickly make one at Twitter.com. It only takes a couple of minutes. Be sure to add a picture to your profile, it gives you more credibility. When you Tweet your Senator and Governor, use the hashtag #GunControlNow

You can use the free site Tweetdeck to set up scheduled and automated tweets. Let your representatives know how you feel several times a day. Go to https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ and add in your twitter account. Click on new Tweet, type what you want to say and schedule it. You can schedule multiple tweets for various dates and times.

Click here for a list of Senators Twitter accounts.

Click here is a list of Governors Twitter accounts

Find out if your congress members have taken money from the NRA and call them out for it. Luckily most Democrats have not received donations from the NRA.

This is a problem we can all help solve. Your participation is essential.

#GOTV reminder for Virginia:

Calling all Virginia Voters: NOW is the time to vote and request your ballot to elect Ralph Northam as Governor and flip the VA House to the Dems! ��

Haven't registered? Already registered but haven't requested your ballot? Visit votefromabroad.org and follow the prompts to complete, print, sign, and return your forms by EMAIL, MAIL or FAX. Just be sure to send in the Addendum page if you’ve provided additional information to qualify for a State ballot.