A central Berlin street has been officially renamed for Ghana-born philosopher Anton Wilhelm Amo, who is believed to be the first Black philosopher known to have taught at a German university.
In 2020, the local council of the central Mitte district disclosed that it wanted to replace the street’s name at the time — Mohrenstrasse (“Moors’ Street”) — as many argued that the name was “outdated” and “offensive”, AFP reported.
Over the weekend, the Mohrenstrasse metro station also took the new name, with the name’s unveiling coinciding with the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade.
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“Anton Wilhelm Amo Street stands for solidarity, for appreciation. For a truly appreciative remembrance of African people in 17th-century Germany,” British activist in Germany Sharon Dodua Otoo said as she unveiled one of the street signs alongside district mayor Stefanie Remlinger.
Tahir Della, from the group Decolonize Berlin, which organized celebrations to mark the name change, also noted, “It’s a great success for civil society, which has been pushing for a name change for more than 30 years.”
“It makes clear why the former name is so problematic for many black people in Germany,” he said.
How the street’s previous name came about is not clear, but AFP writes that the name can be traced back to the early 1700s during the Atlantic slave trade. While some historians say that the name may be connected to formerly enslaved people who settled there, others say that the name is about a visiting African diplomatic delegation. Della argued that the name is a “racist description for black people.”
Still, some locals went to court in an attempt to stop the renaming. A court ruling on Friday nearly marred the renaming ceremony, but a higher court overturned that decision, giving officials the go-ahead to rename the street after Amo.
Born in Gold Coast, present-day Ghana, in a town in the Central Region called Axim, Amo was taken by enslavers and transported by the Dutch West Indies Company to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Amo was presented as a gift to the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in Saxony at the time. The duke was known as Urlic Anton, who accepted Amo and later adopted him, treating him as his own son.
He was able to go to school, attending top universities of Wittenberg, Halle and Jena. After being awarded his doctorate, Amo went back to the University of Halle to teach, and in 1736, he was made a professor. He eventually became an important figure in Germany’s Enlightenment period, AFP noted.
Throughout his career, despite his knowledge and passion for philosophy, Amo was subjected to hate and racism, and his works were sidelined due to his race. He did not receive the respect and platform that he needed to progress.
After a few more years, his close friend and Chancellor of the University of Halle, Johannes Peter von Ludewig, died, and he was left with no other friend, protector or patron because the two sons of Duke Anton Ulrich had died in 1731 and 1735 respectively. It was then that Amo decided to move back to Axim in the Gold Coast in 1747, where he died in 1753.
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