Deep South

Race and Society in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South

Regional Campus Outreach Program

Although different in many ways, the history of racism in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South during the 1930s illuminates some universal phenomena that manifested during these distinct historical periods. Both periods can trace part of their roots to the rise of a new “science” of eugenics, which became an international movement used to give legitimacy to racial policies. Racism, including racial antisemitism, was the core element of Nazi ideology and the driving force behind the Holocaust. Racism also legitimized the continued subjugation and persecution of African Americans long after the end of slavery. This Mandel Center campus outreach program engages college and university students, scholars, and community members in responsible, informed, and meaningful dialogue on the involvement of governments and citizens in two distinct systems of targeted oppression and racial violence within their different historical contexts.

This multi-year program consists of a series of campus events at colleges and universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee:

Interdisciplinary Outreach Symposium

Bystanders and Complicity in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. Institute for Human Rights at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL): February 22-23, 2018. Learn More (PDF)

Pedagogy Roundtable for Faculty

Approaching Difficult Topics in the Classroom. Clayborn Temple (Memphis, TN): November 16, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Campus Panel Discussions

Questions of Complicity in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. Tennessee Tech University (Cookeville, TN): January 31, 2018. Learn More (PDF)

(Un)Silencing the Past & Memorializing Historical Traumas: Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. Troy University (Montgomery, AL): November 6, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Racial Discrimination & Institutionalized Violence in Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South. University of South Alabama (Mobile, AL): October 10, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Towards Healing & Reconciliation: Lessons from the Holocaust and the Jim Crow South. Miles College (Fairfield, AL): September 27, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Religion & Public Life in the Holocaust and Jim Crow South. Georgia State University (Atlanta, GA): August 28, 2017. Learn More (PDF) 

Reckonings: History, Memory, & Extrajudicial Violence in Global Perspective. University of Southern Mississippi (Hattiesburg, MS): April 18, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Liberty and Justice for All? Race, Sexuality, and Citizenship in the Wake of the Holocaust and Jim Crow South. Valdosta State University (Valdosta, GA): April 11, 2017. Learn More (PDF) 

Arkansas, Yugoslavia, and Sierre Leone: Race, Ethnicity, and Violence in a Global Perspective. University of Arkansas-Little Rock (Little Rock, AR): February 21, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Violence and Memory: Memorializing Historical Traumas after the Holocaust and the Jim Crow South. University of Memphis (Memphis, TN): February 16, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

Refugees and Racial Cleansing: Displacement during the Holocaust and Jim Crow Arkansas. Arkansas State University (Jonesboro, AR): February 13, 2017. Learn More (PDF)

For further information on this regional campus outreach program, please email regional_campus_outreach@ushmm.org.