- Posted August 13, 2013
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'Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow' at Holocaust Memorial Center
The Holocaust Memorial Center Zekelman Family Campus (www.holocaustcenter.org) now features the exhibit, "Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges," now through Dec. 15. The Holocaust Memorial Center is located at 28123 Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills.
The exhibit tells the story of Jewish professors who fled Nazism and came to America in the 1930s and 1940s, finding teaching positions at historically black colleges and universities. The exhibition explores the encounter between these scholars and their students, and their impact on each other, the Civil Rights Movement and American society.
"Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow" tells the story of Jewish academics from Germany and Austria, who were dismissed fromtheir teaching positions in the 1930s. After fleeing to America, some refugee scholars found positions at historically black colleges and universities in the Jim Crow South. Jim Crow laws mandated segregation in all public facilities, creating a "separate, but equal" status for African Americans. Together with the use of intimidation and terror by whites, these laws isolated blacks physically and culturally.
The exhibition explores what it meant to the students to have these new staff members as part of their community, how they were affected by the presence of these teachers, and what life was like for white, European Jews teaching at black colleges and universities. The exhibit looks at the empathy between two minority groups with a history of persecution, some of who came together insearch of freedom and opportunity, and shared the early years of struggle in the Civil Rights movement.
The exhibit is inspired by Gabrielle Simon Edgcomb's landmark book "From Swastika to Jim Crow: Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges" (Krieger Publishing Company, 1993) and the subsequent PBS documentary by Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler of Pacific Street Films. The exhibition includes artifacts, photographs, and two new films, by Sucher and Fischler, featuring both the professors and the students. It begins with the dismissal of the refugee scholars from German universities and continues through their search for positions in the United States. The exhibition then highlights the backgrounds of the black students and follows the professors and students coming together to teach and learn and to share a community on campus. Curated by the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City, the exhibit has travelled nationally since 2010. www.mjhnyc.org/college.
"Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges" is made possible through major funding from the Leon Levy Foundation. Additional support provided by the Helen Bader Foundation; The Lupin Foundation; The Blanche and Irving LaurieFoundation; public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency; the Alpern Family Foundation; and the Charles and Mildred Schnurmacher Foundation.
During its appearance at the Holocaust Memorial Center, programmatic sponsors include: the Anti-Defamation League, Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Montford Point Marines and Michigan Department for Civil Rights.
Published: Tue, Aug 13, 2013
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