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Stories Above: A photo from the exhibit “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges.”
T
he power of a story can be one of the most influential aspects of society, preserving history, celebrating cultures and helping us to understand our place in the world.
Storytelling comes in many forms, through the written word, oral traditions, pictures and art. The School of Environment, Arts and Society leverages these avenues to help advance its mission to improve the lives of people and effect positive change for the environment in which we live. In the fall, the Exile Studies Program, Department of English and Center for Humanities in an Urban Environment presented “Beyond Swastika and Jim Crow: Jewish Refugee Scholars at Black Colleges” in collaboration with the Coral Gables Museum. In the era of World War II, many Jewish scholars who had been cast out of Germany unexpectedly found positions in historically black colleges in the American South. There, they came face-to-face with the absurdities of a rigidly segregated Jim Crow society. The exhibit took visitors on a visual journey of their experiences.