A couple of years ago, I started doing something I never really thought I’d do: I began to read and research more about the Holocaust and World War II. I grew up with media depicting the Untied States’ perspective during World War II, specifically the heroic acts of United States service members in the fight against fascism. All of this, of course, positioned the … Read More World War II Literature Syllabus
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading multiple books set in Marseille. Specifically, I have read two novels detailing the movement of refugees during World War II to the port city in hopes of escaping the Nazi advance. Before leaving for Marseille, I read Julie Orringer’s The Flight Portfolio, a fictionalized account of Varian Frye’s work the Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) in Marseille … Read More Art as Resistance in Anna Seghers’ “Transit”
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been teaching John A. Williams’ Clifford’s Blues and exploring the intricate interconnections between Jim Crow and the Holocaust. In a recent post, I wrote some about the Black Horror on the Rhine and Clifford’s Blues. Today, I want to continue some of that discussion, specifically by looking at Clifford’s June 27, 1938, diary entry which covers a few different events and topics … Read More The Revelation of the Past in John A. Williams’ “Clifford’s Blues”
+ black horror on the rhine, clifford's blues, history, holocaust, jim crow, john a williams, world war ii
“Dedicated to those without memorial or monument.” That is the epigraph to John A. Williams’ Clifford’s Blues (1999), a novel that illuminates the the connections between Jim Crow and the Holocaust and illuminates the Nazis treatment of Blacks during their reign of terror. Clifford Pepperidge, a Black, gay musician from New Orleans who traveled to Europe to escape Jim Crow and play music narrates … Read More The Black Horror on the Rhine, Jim Crow, and the Holocaust
Why? Last summer, I led a directed study, with one student, on Jim Crow and the Holocaust. When the student mentioned to other people the topic of the class, they would stare and respond with one word, “Why?” A lot rests within that one-word question. Why study Jim Crow? Why study the Holocaust? Why think about the links between Jim Crow and the Holocaust? Why … Read More Jim Crow, the Holocaust, and Today
Interminable Rambling 