JWST 276 - Racial States: The Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany

The trajectories of the Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany departed from each other in fundamental ways: the Jim Crow South harnessed racism to subjugate African Americans, Nazi Germany relied on racism for persecution and extermination. And yet Nazi leaders, including Adolf Hitler, looked to the United States as both a model, and a cautionary tale, of how to put racial ideas into political practice. By examining the intertwined histories of these two societies, students are asked a series of vexing questions about the creation and memories of societies of oppression: What cultural, political and scientific ideologies did leaders use to justify racial segregation and violence? How and why did ordinary people support, comply with, or resist racist and antisemitic policies? How did ordinary individuals experience, and remember, their personal histories of persecution? Can making comparisons (to Jim Crow and to other victim groups in Nazi Germany) complicate how we understand the mechanisms and intent of the Holocaust? These two historical epochs are historically intertwined and share universal phenomena that continue to resonate.

Credits: 1.0
Crosslisted: HIST 276
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Social Relations,Inst.& Agents
Liberal Arts Practices: Confronting Collective Challenges
Core Component: None

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