14639 Seminar

SoSe 15: The Black-Jewish Alliance in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s

David Jünger

Information for students

Sprechstunde: Mittwochs, 14-16 Uhr, Sophienstr. 22a, 10178 Berlin, Raum 1.08. Bitte tragen Sie sich in folgende Liste ein, um sich für die Sprechstunde anzumelden: Sprechstunde David Jünger : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VKAzdpTsimWyw2qljHiMeM09AswYBOaQ3UkIKHE-7B0 close

Additional information / Pre-requisites

Bilingual English/ German

Comments

When on December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks remained seated in a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama she sparked off the so called Civil Rights Movement, which within in a decade dramatically changed the United States of America. The 1950s were the formative, the 1960s the most successful years of this movement. In these early stages of the movement the black people had to fight for themselves and by themselves against a variety of odds. Almost no white people sided with the blacks in their fight for the fulfilment of the American dream of freedom, justice and equality for all of its citizens. It was only one group that almost unanimously supported the Civil Rights Movement from its beginning: American Jewry. Jewish lawyers supported black defendants, Jewish groups helped to organize protest events, launched media campaigns, and connected Black activist with important policy makers, and last but not least risked Jews theirs lives when the participated in the Freedom Rides or helped to register black voters in the Deep South. In the seminar we will draw a picture of this alliance between Blacks and Jews in the fight for civil liberties in the United States. We will examine the origins of this alliance in the beginning of the 20th century and will more deeply delve into the post-war history of the United States. We will see how the situation of the American Jewish community unexpectedly improved in these years at a tearing pace. We will analyze why a great part of the Jews fervently sided with the Blacks whereas others Jews did not. And we will ask for the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement as well as the Black Jewish Alliance for the present generation. In class we will not alone focus on the historical events. It is my purpose to improve the scholarly skills of all participants. We will practice different kinds of verbal interaction and of mutual assistance in solving problems and we will have some writing exercises. The seminar is designed as a bilingual one. That means that English as well as German are used in the course. Passive knowledge of English is obligatory, passive knowledge of German desirably. We will talk in the first session about arrangements in order to make it for all participants a successful course. close

13 Class schedule

Regular appointments

Thu, 2015-04-16 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-04-23 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-04-30 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-05-07 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-05-21 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-05-28 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-06-04 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-06-11 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-06-18 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-06-25 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-07-02 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-07-09 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Thu, 2015-07-16 10:00 - 12:00

Lecturers:
David Jünger

Subjects A - Z