Feb 27, 2018

Celebrating May Ayim

This Doodle’s Key Themes

Today’s Doodle celebrates author, poet, and activist May Ayim. It was on this date in 2010 that "May Ayim Ufer" or "May Ayim Street" was named in her honor in Berlin.

Born in 1960 to a Ghanaian father and a German mother, Ayim drew inspiration from a difficult childhood to become a prominent figure in the Black German movement.

Ayim’s pioneering work helped lay the groundwork for the field of Black German history. Her 1986 thesis, “Afro-Germans: Their Cultural and Social History on the Background of Social Change,” was the first scholarly work on Afro-German history from the Middle Ages to the present. This thesis also provided the foundation of her renowned book, “Farbe Bekennen.” In addition to her scholarly publications, Ayim’s poetry collections brought the Black German struggle for equality to an international stage.

Ayim’s journey as an author and poet also intersected with her work as an activist. For example, she partnered with other activists to form the Initiative Schwarze Deutsche (ISD), which served as a network of Blacks in Germany striving for self-empowerment.

Ayim’s 1992 speech, “My Pen Is My Sword: Racism and Resistance in Germany,” stressed the importance of writing as a vehicle for social transformation. Today's Doodle by Berlin-based illustrator Laura Breiling celebrates Ayim’s scholarly and literary work, which continues to educate and inspire people across the globe.

Early drafts of the Doodle below