On exhibition in the Larry Wasser Gallery from October 13, 2011 - January 21, 2012

By the time World War II began on September 1, 1939, Germany had purged

itself of its Jewish professors, scientists, and scholars. Some of these academics,

deprived of their livelihoods by the Nazis, found refuge in the United States. But

in this new world, they faced an uncertain future.

A few dozen refugee scholars unexpectedly found positions in historically black

colleges in the American South. There, as recent escapees from persecution in

Nazi Germany, they came face to face with the absurdities of a rigidly segregated

Jim Crow society. In their new positions, they met, taught, and interacted with

students who had grown up in, and struggled with, this racist environment.

Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow explores the unlikely coming together of these

two groups, each the object of exclusion and hatred, and examines the ongoing

encounter between them as they navigated the challenges of life in the

Sponsored locally by

The Herman & Sally Boxser Diversity Initiative

of Temple Beth Sholom of Sarasota