Audre Lorde (1934-1992)

 

Some women love

to wait

for life for a ring

in the June light   for a touch

of the sun to heal them   for another

woman's voice   to make them whole

to untie their hands

put words in their mouths

form to their passages sound

to their screams   for some other sleeper

to remember their future   their past.

 

Some women wait for something

to change   and nothing

does change

so they change

themselves.     (from "Stations," 1986)

 

On June 17th, 2021 the city council of Berlin-Kreuzberg decided to change the name of a part of Manteuffel Street into Audre Lorde Street to honor the African American poet and activist: a "black, lesbian, feminist, mother, poet, warrior," as she called herself. We gratefully remember Audre Lorde's stay as a visiting professor at the Kennedy Institute in 1984. She continued to live in Berlin intermittently until 1992. She was a strong presence in the burgeoning Afro-German movement and spoke out against racism in German society. Thanks to a generous gift by Professor Dagmar Schulz, the FU university archive was able to create the Audre Lorde Special Collection, which contains numerous letters, photos, and videos, including audio recordings of all seminar sessions. Selected material is available in digital form on the website of the library of the Kennedy Institute.