Program Type:
Americans and the Holocaust Traveling ExhibitionAge Group:
Adults- Registration is required for this event.
- Registration is no longer available for this event.
Program Description
Event Details
The Race and Citizenship in Nazi Germany and Jim Crow US Unit grew out of The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, initially a grassroots effort - for survivors and by survivors- to create a process where their stories can be told and preserved. The unit grew out of the challenge of centering testimony in high school as opposed to using testimony to briefly illustrate historical themes and how to truly listen to the voices and experiences of the survivors. Historian John Q. Whitman and the publication of his book, Hitler's American Model provided a great counterpoint for the unit, but the testimonies within the unit are the root. The model of this unit evolves around close listening to testimonies, construction of historical knowledge, the values and limits of historical comparative analysis of racial regimes (Jim Crow US and Nazi Germany), construction of race through laws, and global connections. The unit was designed for high schoolers but can easily be modified for middle school students.
Colleen Simon, PhD, has been teaching for 25 years and is currently the middle school humanities teacher at Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Hartford. She received her MAT from Sacred Heart University and her PhD in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Gratz College. Colleen is a USHMM Teacher Fellow and has presented on this particular unit in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Connecticut.