Which crises did racism suffer through the struggles of black people in the German colonial empire? During the long 30 years of colonial politics, racism became a biopolitical and society-shaping paradigm. Ulrike Hamann shows which specific articulations of racism were current at which times, and how these were connected with colonial and national policies. The point of departure of the analysis is not in the first instance theories of »race« , but rather the resistance against these, through a postcolonial reading. From the writings of Mary Church Terrell, W.E.B. Du Bois and Duala Manga Bell, a panorama of the articulations of racism in Germany emerges - but also its social counter model.