Borns Jewish Studies Program

Memory plays a central role in defining our communities and ourselves. This course explores how public memory has shaped the experiences of Jews and Black Americans and affected their relationships. The course will focus on two ‘memory moments’ in which the discussion of monuments became central to understanding injustice toward minorities as well as social change: the civil rights movement against racial segregation in the US of the 1950s and 1960s; and the debates regarding monuments in the US and the legacy of racism taking place since the 2016 election. It will offer two comparative modules about memorials and monuments in Germany, where Jews and People of Color are a minority, and explore their position in their realization and experience in those memorials.

S26