From Swastika to Jim Crow: The German Jewish Refugee Scholars Hired at HBCUs

Event Cosponsored by HHREC

Register to watch online: https://tinyurl.com/54zvpkru
Register to attend in person: https://tinyurl.com/2a72yh44

From Swastika to Jim Crow tells the story of German Jewish scholars who joined the faculty at historically Black colleges and universities in the South and the challenges of leaving one oppressive society for another. In this discussion, documentarians Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler will share their process making the film, from working with local historian Gabrielle Edgecomb to interviewing retired professors such as philosopher Ernst Manasse who taught at North Carolina Central University for almost 40 years, and the students they mentored, including Obama administration advisor and economist Joyce Ladner. 

This event is part of the 2025-26 Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) and National Endowment for the Humanities Colloquium, “Resistance, Resilience and Reinvention: Artists and Academics Escaping Nazism.” It is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University; the Reiff Center for Human Rights and Conflict Resolution at Christopher Newport University; the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center in White Plains; the Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at Western Washington University; the Holocaust, Genocide & Interfaith Education Center at Manhattan University; the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University; the Human Rights Institute at Kean University; and the Queens College Center for Jewish Studies.