Lancaster, PA – Franklin & Marshall College

Exhibition: “The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany“
November 03 – December 13, 2011

Exhibition Opening:
November 03, 2011

Introduction by Maria Höhn

Roundtable Discussion at Common Hour: November 3, 2011, 11:30 a.m.-12:35 p.m., Mayser Gymnasium, F&M College
First Friday Reception: November 4, 2011 starting at 4:45 p.m.

Rothman Gallery, The Phillips Museum of Art, Steinman College Center
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Exhibition of photographs from an important, but little known chapter of African American GIs who served in World War II and were based in Germany.  The photographs are part of a collaborative project of the German Historical Institute, the Heidelberg Center for American Studies and Vassar College; and was a recipient of  the NAACP Julius E. Williams Distinguished Community Service Award in 2009.

Central to the mission of the project is the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who visited Berlin in 1964 and spoke there about the “division of men on the face of the earth.”  African Americans in Germany expressed the tremendous impact the experience had on them and how their taste of freedom in Germany directly impacted the Civil Rights movement in America.

Join us for the Common Hour, Thursday, November 3, 2011, 11:30 a.m.-12:35 p.m. at Mayser Gymnasium.  The roundtable discussion topic is: America in Black and White: Lancaster Veterans and the Struggle for Racial Equality.  Lancaster participants are: Sydney Bridgett, Nelson Polite and Lew Alston. Moderated by Maria Höhn, Marion Musser Lloyd ’32 Professor of History and International Studies at Vassar College.

A First Friday Reception will be held on November 4, 2011, starting at 4:45 p.m.

This exhibition is supported in part by the Departments of American Studies, International Studies, Africana Studies, Department of German and Russian, and History at F&M and the Center of Liberal Arts in Society.

All exhibitions are free and open to the public.

Roundtable Discussion: “America in Black and White: Lancaster Veterans and the Struggle for Racial Equality“

Professor Maria Höhn moderated a discussion by three African American Lancaster veterans concerning their experiences as soldiers.

For more, please see here.