To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 2026, the multicultural and multilingual immigrant heritage of the U.S. will be the theme of the German Texan Heritage Society/Dallas Goethe Center speaker series for 25/26 and 26/27.
Dr. David Huenlich of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt in Bavaria will lead off the series presenting 10/21/25 at 7:00 p.m. CST over “Matt Gaines and Afro-German Relations in the 19th Century through the Lens of a Black Republican’s Life.” Dr. Huenlich received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Germanic Studies and Linguistics at UT-Austin and received support from the Leibniz-Institute for the German Language and a DAAD scholarship to document the lives of Black German speakers in Texas. He conducted his research through the History Department at Texas A&M University with Walter Kamphoefner and has posted his research at https://www.afrogermantexas.info/about.
As a slave at Fredericksburg Matt Gaines not only learned German but following the Civil War was elected to the Texas Senate during Reconstruction. A staunch proponent of education and Black Civil Rights he was influential in the founding of TAMU through the Morrill Land-Grant Act.
The zoom link will also be posted at the German Texan Heritage Society website.