Fasia Jansen’s Life and Writing

Live-Stream via Zoom HERE

The Black German protest musician Fasia Jansen was born in 1929 as the daughter of the Liberian Consul General Momulu Massaquoi and the white German "chambermaid" Elli Jansen in Hamburg's working-class district of Barmbek. Already in her early childhood she experienced racist exclusion and discrimination. Because of her "non-Aryan" origin, she had to leave dance school in 1942 at the age of 13. In 1944, she was forced to do labour service in a barrack kitchen at a branch of the Neuengamme concentration camp. After the end of the Second World War, she began her career as a singer.

In the incipient peace and resistance movements in post-war Germany, Fasia Jansen became a well-known protest singer. Later she protested against the Vietnam War alongside Joan Baez and Angela Davis. In 1987, her focus began to shift to children as well as women's peace marches. In 1991, she was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit for her social and political commitment and was named an honorary citizen of the city of Oberhausen, where the "Fasia Jansen Foundation" is located today.

Millicent Adjei from the Fasiathek project, a project of the Arca Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum e.V. association, invites you to take a look at Fasia Jansen's life: Based on the book "FASIA geliebte Rebellin" (FASIA beloved rebel), she will talk about her biography, read texts written by Fasia and then encourage discussion with the audience.

With Millicent Adjei.

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