Dagmar Schultz (born 1941 in Berlin) is a German sociologist, filmmaker, publisher and professor.
Schultz grew up in a female household; her father committed suicide in World War II. After a few semesters studying journalism, North American studies and Romance studies at the Free University of Berlin. In 1965, she graduated from the University of Michigan inbroadcasting, television and film, with a master's thesis on "The Role of Broadcasting in Africa with Special Emphasis on West Africa". However, her dream of working as a documentary filmmaker on television proved to be unrealizable: "My job interview at CBS or NBC was such that the gentlemen asked me, 'What do you mean, why we hire women here?' That was a rhetorical question - and the answer: 'Yes, as a cleaning woman and as secretaries.' " [1] In 1965 Schultz taught at Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi.
In 1966/67 she went to Puerto Rico, where she worked in the Anti-Poverty Programs of the Office of Economic Opportunity. From 1969 to 1970, she taught seminars on women's studies and on race and class at Columbia College Chicago and was active in the women’s movement. In 1972, Schultz was awarded a Ph.D. at University of Wisconsin–Madison, with a dissertation on workers' education and her Habilitation from the Free University of Berlin with a study on the life and work of female and male professors. In 1973, she returned to Germany and taught women's studies and cultural and immigration issues at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Free University of Berlin. She established, with a few fellow campaigners, a book publishing house specialized on feminist literature and the Feminist Women's Health Center in Berlin in 1974, the first of its kind in Germany. She worked with the center until 1981. She also co-founded Orlanda Women's Press (Orlanda Frauenverlag) in 1974, and was (co-)editor until 2001. As a visiting professor, she taught sociology of education at State University of New York in 1981. In 1984, she helped civil rights activist and poet Audre Lorde, whom she got to know at the 1980 UN World Conference on Women in Copenhagen, to become a visiting professor at FU Berlin. Lorde would go on to influence the politics of the Black German women's movement of the 1980s and 1990s. [2]
In 1989, she habilitated at the Institute of Sociology of the Free University of Berlin. In 1991, Schultz followed the call for a professorship for "Social and Educational Work with Women" at the Department of Social Work and Social Education of Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences Berlin, where she remained until her retirement in 2004. [3] Her work focused on women in social work, intercultural social work, medical sociology and social education, socialization and cultural competence in psychosocial care. [4]
Since 2004, Dagmar Schultz has been involved in writing and organising reading tours in the United States for her partner Ika Hügel-Marshall (author of Invisible Woman. Growing up Black in Germany) and other events. In 2007 she was co-producer of the film "Hope in My Heart - The May Ayim Story".
In 2011 Schultz was honored by Peter-André Alt with the "Margherita von Brentano Award", the highest endowed award for gender studies and women's projects in Germany. [5] In 2012, Schultz invested her prize money on the one hand in the structure of an Audre Lorde archive at the FU Berlin, on the other she produced and directed a documentary about the time in Germany by the author Audre Lorde ("Audre Lorde - The Berlin years from 1984 to 1992"). She wrote the screenplay together with her partner Ika Hügel-Marshall. The film had its premiere at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival and was shown at numerous other international festivals. [6] [7] The same year, Schultz became dignified the "Magnus-Hirschfeld-Award" for her life's work as one of the first activists of the lesbian and women's movement since the 1970s, an award donated by the gay section of SPD to honor outstanding achievements for the emancipation of lesbians, gays and transgender people.
Dagmar Schultz is passionate about photography, and among others her photos of plants and flowers have appeared on book covers at Orlanda Verlag and Fischer Verlag. [8]
Audre Lorde was an American writer, professor, philosopher, intersectional feminist, poet and civil rights activist. She was a self-described "Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet" who dedicated her life and talents to confronting different forms of injustice, as she believed there could be "no hierarchy of oppressions" among "those who share the goals of liberation and a workable future for our children."
Afro-Germans or Black Germans are Germans of Sub-Saharan African descent.
Renate Stendhal, born Renate Neumann on January 29, 1944 in Stendal, Germany, is a bilingual writer and existential counselor. She has published books of fiction and nonfiction with a focus on the erotic and creative empowerment of women. Three of her books were co-authored with writer Kim Chernin (1940-2020), her life-companion of 35 years.
May Ayim is the pen name of May Opitz ; she was an Afro-German poet, educator, and activist. The child of a German dancer and Ghanaian medical student, she lived with a white German foster family when young. After reconnecting with her father and his family in Ghana, in 1992 she took his surname for a pen name.
Elisabeth Friederike Rotten was a Quaker peace activist and educational progressive.
Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out is an English translation of the German book Farbe bekennen edited by author May Ayim, Katharina Oguntoye, and Dagmar Schultz. It is the first published book by Afro-Germans. It is the first written use of the term Afro-German. A compilation of texts, testimonials and other secondary sources, the collection brings to life the stories of black German women living amid racism, sexism and other institutional constraints in Germany. The book draws on themes and motifs prevalent in Germany from the earliest colonial interactions between Germany and black "otherness," up through the lived experiences of black German women in the 1980s. It was groundbreaking not only for the degree to which it examined the Afro-German experience, which had been generally ignored in the larger popular discourse, but also as a forum for women to have a voice in constructing this narrative. The book also acted as a source for these Afro-German women to have a platform where their stories can be heard. The stories that were told helped the development of an Afro-German community as a common theme throughout Showing Our Colors was the idea of feeling alone and as though there was no one to relate to. The discussion of this loss of connection to others helped Afro-Germans come together and unite.
Katharina Oguntoye is an Afro-German writer, historian, activist, and poet. She founded the nonprofit intercultural association Joliba in Germany and is perhaps best known for co-editing the book Farbe bekennen with May Ayim and Dagmar Schultz. The English translation of this book was entitled Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out. Oguntoye has played an important role in the Afro-German Movement.
Erika "Ika" Hügel-Marshall was a German author and activist. She was active in the Afro-German women's movement organization ADEFRA. Her autobiography, Daheim unterwegs. Ein deutsches Leben, discusses racism in Germany and her search for a family identity. She was influenced by and praised the work of her friend, American activist Audre Lorde. She and her partner Dagmar Schultz worked with Lorde.
Regina Becker-Schmidt was a German psychologist and sociologist who was professor at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology at the Leibniz University Hannover. Her research focuses on corporate and subject theory, critical theory, psychoanalytically oriented social psychology and gender studies. She is considered a seminal figure in feminist critical theory.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is a collection of essential essays and speeches written by Audre Lorde, a writer who focuses on the particulars of her identity: Black woman, lesbian, poet, activist, cancer survivor, mother, and feminist. This collection, now considered a classic volume of Lorde's most influential works of non-fiction prose, has had a groundbreaking impact in the development of contemporary feminist theories. In fifteen essays and speeches dating from 1976 to 1984, Lorde explores the complexities of intersectional identity, while explicitly drawing from her personal experiences of oppression to include sexism, heterosexism, racism, homophobia, classism, and ageism. The book examines a broad range of topics, including love, self-love, war, imperialism, police brutality, coalition building, violence against women, Black feminism, and movements towards equality that recognize and embrace differences as a vehicle for change. With meditative conscious reasoning, Lorde explores her misgivings for the widespread marginalization deeply-rooted in the United States' white patriarchal system, all the while, offering messages of hope. The essays in this landmark collection are extensively taught and have become a widespread area of academic analysis. Lorde's philosophical reasoning that recognizes oppressions as complex and interlocking designates her work as a significant contribution to critical social theory.
Henriette Goldschmidt (1825–1920) was a German Jewish feminist, pedagogist and social worker. She was one of the founders of the German Women's Association and worked to improve women's rights to access education and employment. As part of that effort, she founded the Society for Family Education and for People's Welfare and the first school offering higher education to women in Germany.
Sharon Dodua Otoo is a British writer, publicist and activist. In 2016, Otoo was awarded the Ingeborg Bachmann Prize for her first short story in the German language.
Dagmar Enkelmann is a German politician of Die Linke party.
Elfriede Paul was a German physician and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. Paul, a small and energetic woman, was a communist member of the anti-fascist resistance group that was later called the Red Orchestra by the Abwehr. Paul was one of the few members of the Red Orchestra Group to survive imprisonment at the hands of the Gestapo. After the war, she was responsible for drafting health policies for the German Democratic Republic.
Peggy Piesche is a German literary and cultural scientist, works in adult education and works as a consultant for diversity, intersectionality and decoloniality in the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Peggy Piesche is one of the most famous voices of Black women in Germany. Her identities also include lesbian.
Elly Lotte Bergtel-Schleif, née Schleif, was a German librarian who was actively involved in the resistance against Nazis while a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Bergtel-Schleif became head of the Berlin Library School after the war.
Generation ADEFRA – Schwarze Frauen in Deutschland is a Berlin-based German cultural and political organization for Black women and other women of color. Founded in 1986, it is considered the first grassroots activist group for Afro-German women.
Fasia Jansen was a German political singer-songwriter (Liedermacher) and peace activist.
Johanna Kootz is a German librarian and sociologist. She was a pioneer of women's studies and advancement at Free University of Berlin. In 2004, she was awarded the Margherita von Brentano Prize for her life's work.
Else Rahel Samulon-Guttmann was a German lawyer and one of the first female judges in Prussia.