After World War II, many West German women had a difficult time coming to terms with the atrocities that the National Socialist leadership committed during that war, as well as their own participation in the Party. Discussions of the roles of women within twentieth-century society began to grow in West Germany as the new women’s movement (die Neue Fraenbewegung) emerged from 1960s student protests. This movement included primarily middle-class white German women. They often dismissed their participation in Party racism by framing themselves as victims of a patriarchal regime. As German women discussed these matters, they ignored the race issues that existed within their own society. As an increase in racial tension spread throughout West Germany in the 1980s, Black German women faced both gendered and racial discrimination. It was during this time that these women unified and asserted their presence in Germany through the creation of the Afro-German feminist movement. Much of the historiography surrounding the Afro-German feminist movement focuses on the significant impact it had on the ability of Afro-German women to establish a collective identity. This thesis, however, will add to this historiography by looking at the ways in which the Afro-German feminist movement interacted with the new women’s movement in West Germany and how it influenced greater discussions of race and issues of racism among white feminists.
","abstract_html":"<p>After World War II, many West German women had a difficult time coming to terms with the atrocities that the National Socialist leadership committed during that war, as well as their own participation in the Party. Discussions of the roles of women within twentieth-century society began to grow in West Germany as the new women’s movement (<em>die Neue Fraenbewegung</em>) emerged from 1960s student protests. This movement included primarily middle-class white German women. They often dismissed their participation in Party racism by framing themselves as victims of a patriarchal regime. As German women discussed these matters, they ignored the race issues that existed within their own society. As an increase in racial tension spread throughout West Germany in the 1980s, Black German women faced both gendered and racial discrimination. It was during this time that these women unified and asserted their presence in Germany through the creation of the Afro-German feminist movement. Much of the historiography surrounding the Afro-German feminist movement focuses on the significant impact it had on the ability of Afro-German women to establish a collective identity. This thesis, however, will add to this historiography by looking at the ways in which the Afro-German feminist movement interacted with the new women’s movement in West Germany and how it influenced greater discussions of race and issues of racism among white feminists.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Stobaugh, Lindsey"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Allison Abra","Heather Stur","Brian LaPierre"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z","subjects":["race","racism","feminism","Germany","Black Germans","Afro-Germans","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/803","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Allison Abra","Heather Stur","Brian LaPierre"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Stobaugh, Lindsey"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-03-25T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["race","racism","feminism","Germany","Black Germans","Afro-Germans","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/803"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["After World War II, many West German women had a difficult time coming to terms with the atrocities that the National Socialist leadership committed during that war, as well as their own participation in the Party. Discussions of the roles of women within twentieth-century society began to grow in West Germany as the new women’s movement (die Neue Fraenbewegung) emerged from 1960s student protests. This movement included primarily middle-class white German women. They often dismissed their participation in Party racism by framing themselves as victims of a patriarchal regime. As German women discussed these matters, they ignored the race issues that existed within their own society. As an increase in racial tension spread throughout West Germany in the 1980s, Black German women faced both gendered and racial discrimination. It was during this time that these women unified and asserted their presence in Germany through the creation of the Afro-German feminist movement. Much of the historiography surrounding the Afro-German feminist movement focuses on the significant impact it had on the ability of Afro-German women to establish a collective identity. This thesis, however, will add to this historiography by looking at the ways in which the Afro-German feminist movement interacted with the new women’s movement in West Germany and how it influenced greater discussions of race and issues of racism among white feminists.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Recognizing Race: The Impact of Twentieth-Century Feminist Movements on Race Relations in West Germany"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Allison Abra","Heather Stur","Brian LaPierre"],"dc:creator":["Stobaugh, Lindsey"],"dc:date.available":["2021-03-25T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["After World War II, many West German women had a difficult time coming to terms with the atrocities that the National Socialist leadership committed during that war, as well as their own participation in the Party. Discussions of the roles of women within twentieth-century society began to grow in West Germany as the new women’s movement (die Neue Fraenbewegung) emerged from 1960s student protests. This movement included primarily middle-class white German women. They often dismissed their participation in Party racism by framing themselves as victims of a patriarchal regime. As German women discussed these matters, they ignored the race issues that existed within their own society. As an increase in racial tension spread throughout West Germany in the 1980s, Black German women faced both gendered and racial discrimination. It was during this time that these women unified and asserted their presence in Germany through the creation of the Afro-German feminist movement. Much of the historiography surrounding the Afro-German feminist movement focuses on the significant impact it had on the ability of Afro-German women to establish a collective identity. This thesis, however, will add to this historiography by looking at the ways in which the Afro-German feminist movement interacted with the new women’s movement in West Germany and how it influenced greater discussions of race and issues of racism among white feminists.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/803"],"dc:subject":["race","racism","feminism","Germany","Black Germans","Afro-Germans","Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies"],"dc:title":["Recognizing Race: The Impact of Twentieth-Century Feminist Movements on Race Relations in West Germany"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z"}