From Swastika and Jim Crow: Lessons and Legacies Panel Discussion

The Coral Gables Museum in collaboration with Florida International University's Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment and the Department of English, presents a traveling exhibit titled “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges,” created by the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. On Saturday, I'm heading to Miami to take part in a panel discussion and staged reading of THE HAMPTON YEARS. Here''s more information about the exhibit and panel discussion:

John Biggers, seated, with Mother and Child painting on easel, 1944. Art Instructor Viktor Lowenfeld (second from left) encouraged the students to express their frustration with poverty and other conditions of opression in the South. (Standing far right are Frank Steward and Ada Ferguson Vann.) Photo: Hampton University Archives

"Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow tells the story of Jewish academics from Germany and Austria who were dismissed from their 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. The exhibition explores what it meant to the students to have these new staff as part of their community, how the students were affected by their presence, 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 whom came together in search of freedom and opportunity, and shared the early years of struggle in the Civil Rights movement." Click here to learn more about the exhibit.

“This exhibit explores the deep relationships that formed between two disenfranchised groups that each experienced racism firsthand — Jews fleeing Nazi Europe and African-Americans in the South living during Jim Crow,” said Christine Rupp, executive director of the Coral Gables Museum. “The exhibit and its surrounding activities and programs will give the South Florida community an opportunity to learn about these remarkable teachers and students and how they reacted to the discrimination they faced.”

FIU has created a series of panels, screenings, lectures, and other events, including a panel discussion on Sunday, October 19 from 4:00pm - 6:00pm, titled From Swastika to Jim Crow: Lessons and Legacies at the Coral Gables Museum. Moderated by Dr. Michael P. Gillespie (Professor of English and Director of the Center for Humanitities in An Urban Environment), this panel will examine the evolution in American thinking about race based on the experiences highlighted in the exhibit. Panelists include Dr. Alan Berger(Raddock Chair of Holocaust Studies, Florida Atlantic University), Dr. Guy Stern (Director, Institute of Altruism. Holocaust Museum in Detroit and Provost (emeritus) Wayne State University), Ms. Jaqueline E. Lawton (Playwright, author of Hampton Years), and Dr. Tometro Hopkins (Director of the Linguistics Program, Florida International University). This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Women's and Gender Studies. Click here or see the flyer below to learn more:.

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