From Swastika to Jim Crow Transcript

February 21, 2023

IN 1933, GERMAN UNIVERSITIES, UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE NAZI GOVERNMENT, BEGAN EXPELLING PROFESSORS, SCHOLARS, AND ARTISTS.   MANY OF THESE REFUGEE SCHOLARS FLED TO THE UNITED STATES, HOPING TO CONTINUE THEIR EDUCATIONAL CAREERS.  THEY WERE GREETED, FOR THE MOST PART, WITH GATES TIGHTLY SHUT.   A SMALL NUMBER NOW TURNED TO A MOST UNLIKELY ALTERNATIVE.

Title:  FROM SWASTIKA TO JIM CROW

 

LORE RASMUSSEN:  THE ROOFS WERE LEAKING. THE FACULTY HAD JUST TAKEN A SALARY CUT. THE WHITE COMMUNITY WOULD NOT ASSOCIATE WITH US. WE WOULD BE COMPLETELY ISOLATED ON THIS LITTLE TINY CAMPUS.

 

ERNST MANASSE: THIS WAS A DIFFERENT WORLD. AND WHEN I CAME, THE COLLEGE HAD ABOUT 500 STUDENTS. IT WAS A LITTLE COUNTRY COLLEGE. BUT IT WAS MY SALVATION.

 

JOHN HERZ:  IT WAS A GREAT GOOD LUCK OF MINE TO FIND MY FIRST TEACHING JOB AT A BLACK UNIVERSITY WHERE I FELT I HAD SO MUCH IN COMMON WITH TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.

 

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN:  ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE STORIES IN RECENT EDUCATIONAL HISTORY IS THE STORY OF THE REFUGEE SCHOLARS IN AFRO-AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES.

 

ISMAR SCHORSCH:  THEY FOUND A PLACE WHERE THEY COULD MAKE A CONTRIBUTION, AND THEY FOUND A PLACE WHERE THEY COULD PURSUE THEIR INTELLECTUAL LIFE. UH, THEY FOUND A PLACE WHERE THEY COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

 

OF THE OVER 1,200 REFUGEE SCHOLARS WHO DISEMBARKED ON AMERICAN SHORES ONLY A HANDFUL — ABOUT 50 — WERE TO BEGIN TEACHING CAREERS AT BLACK COLLEGES.  MOST OF THEM WERE GERMAN JEWS.  FEW SPOKE FLUENT ENGLISH ON ARRIVAL.  CERTAINLY, NONE WERE PREPARED FOR THE TEACHING EXPERIENCE THAT WAS TO GREET THEM.

 

JOHN FRANKLIN: HAVING BEEN CAST OUT THEMSELVES FROM EUROPE, THEY TOOK IT UPON THEMSELVES TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS ENTERPRISE OF TEACHING IN WHAT WAS ESSENTIALLY SEGREGATED, UH, INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING.

 

JIM MCWILLIAMS : IT WAS A RELATIONSHIP THAT WAS BASED ON CARING AND CONCERN AND IT DEVELOPED A RESPECT AND APPRECIATION THAT LASTED MY LIFETIME

 

JOYCE LADNER:  I DIDN’T KNOW THEN AS MUCH ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST AS I DO NOW, BUT I DID KNOW THAT DR. BORINSKI WAS JEWISH AND I THOUGHT THAT BECAUSE HE WAS A JEW THAT HE HAD AN AFFINITY WITH BLACKS BECAUSE OF SIMILAR PERSECUTION.

 

THE DISMISSAL OF JEWISH SCHOLARS FROM GERMAN UNIVERSITIES HAD BEEN PAINFULLY EFFICIENT. HITLER TOOK POWER IN JANUARY OF 1933 AND  BY APRIL THE EXPULSIONS WERE WELL UNDERWAY.  ANY OPPOSITION FROM  NON-JEWISH FACULTY AND STUDENTS WAS BRUTALLY SUPPRESSED.

 

ISMAR SCHORSCH:  THE UNIVERSITY WAS A SEED BED FOR NAZISM. THE STUDENTS WERE AMONG UH THE MOST RABID UH RIGHT-WING UH SUPPORTERS OF UH NAZISM.

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB:  BETWEEN APRIL 13TH, 1933 AND MAY 4TH, 1933 A HUGE NUMBER WERE FIRED FROM THE UNIVERSITIES. EVERY UNIVERSITY, EVERY KIND OF FACULTY–UM THIS WAS ALL PUBLISHED BY THE “MANCHESTER GUARDIAN.” AND THEY HAD ALL THE NAMES AND THE UNIVERSITIES AND THEIR FIELDS.

 

SYSTEMATIC REPRESSION WAS SOON TO BECOME THE NORM IN NAZI GERMANY. JEWS WERE RELEGATED TO THE BACKS OF PUBLIC BUSES…

SIGNS APPEARED RESTRICTING ENTRANCE INTO RESTAURANTS.   AND BOYCOTTS AGAINST JEWISH-OWNED STORES OFTEN ERUPTED INTO VIOLENCE.

 

JOHN HERZ: AFTER ’33 RIGHT AWAY IT WAS EVERY DAY A BLOW–EVERY DAY SOMETHING NEW–EVERY DAY A NEW DECREE, A NEW LAW–WHICH, OF COURSE, IN MANY CASES WAS DIRECTED AGAINST UH JEWS. AT THAT TIME UH I WAS IN THIS PREPARATORY CIVIL SERVICE AND WAS DISMISSED AND UH MANY UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS. THAT WAS A TIME WHEN THEY–UH INCLUDING EINSTEIN AND SO MANY OTHER FAMOUS SCHOLARS, HAD TO LEAVE.

 

WITH DESPERATION ON THE RISE, ARRANGING PASSAGE PROVED INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT. THOSE FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO FIND A  SAFE HAVEN OVERSEAS WOULD HAVE TO LEAVE QUICKLY — WITH LITTLE MORE THAN WHAT THEY COULD CARRY.   THE ARTIST VIKTOR LOWENFELD RECOUNTED THE STORY OF HIS FLIGHT, IN 1938, TO HIS STUDENT, JOHN BIGGERS.

 

JOHN BIGGERS:  HE SAID HE PUT HIS MOST PROFOUND PAINTINGS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE CRATE, AND THEN PUT HIS LANDSCAPES AND STILL LIES AND THE SUPERFICIAL ON TOP. AND THE NAZI’S, WHEN THEY SAW THE PAINTINGS, THEY IMMEDIATELY ASKED HIM UH WOULD YOU SIGN THE PAINTING FOR US, ALTHOUGH THEY WERE TAKING HIS OWN. HE HANDED OUT LANDSCAPES AND STILL LIES TO THE NAZI SOLDIERS. BUT THERE WAS UH SEVERAL PAINTINGS THERE OF UH ACTUALLY NAZISM. AND UH WE WONDERED HOW DID HE GET THIS OUT. HE SAID, “I PUT THEM ON THE BOTTOM, AND THEY NEVER WENT TO THE BOTTOM.”

 

ERNST MANNASE:  WHEN I CAME TO THIS COUNTRY, I HAD 30 OR 40 ENGLISH POUNDS WITH WHICH I ARRIVED IN NEW YORK. BUT WITH NOTHING ELSE.

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB:  THEY HAD LOST THEIR COUNTRY. THEY HAD LOST THEIR HOMES. THEY HAD LOST THEIR JOBS. THEY HAD LOST THEIR CULTURE. THEY HAD UNDERGONE BRUTALITY. MANY OF THEM DID NOT KNOW WHERE THEIR FAMILIES WERE OR WHETHER THEY WERE SURVIVING.

 

WHILE THE MOST FAMOUS OF THE REFUGEE SCHOLARS WERE WELCOMED TO THE UNITED STATES WITH OPEN ARMS, THE VAST MAJORITY FACED AN ACADEMIC WORLD THAT REMAINED ALOOF… IF NOT DOWNRIGHT HOSTILE.

 

CARLA BORDEN:  THE BOTTOM LINE IS THE 1930’S WERE NOT AN EASY TIME FOR PEOPLE TO FIND WORK. THERE JUST WERE LIMITED POSITIONS. ALSO THESE REFUGEES FACED UM ANTI-SEMITISM, ANTI-FOREIGNER SENTIMENT–SPECIFICALLY ANTI-GERMAN SENTIMENT. THEY HAD A LOT GOING AGAINST THEM.

 

JOHN HERZ:  EVERYBODY CAME WITH A LOT OF RECOMMENDATIONS AND WRITING LETTERS AROUND TO THE VARIOUS UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES. AND, OF COURSE, IT WAS A TIME WHEN EVEN AMERICAN BORN–AMERICAN-BORN SCHOLARS HAD DIFFICULTIES TO FIND JOBS.

 

ERNST MANASSE:  I THINK THE –MY OPPORTUNITIES TO FIND EMPLOYMENT HERE AS A JEW WERE CERTAINLY LIMITED.

 

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN:  I SHALL NEVER FORGET THE FIRST TIME I WITNESSED THE MANIFESTATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM WHEN I WAS A GRADUATE STUDENT AT HARVARD UH BACK IN 1936. AND WHEN I SUGGESTED THAT A CERTAIN PERSON IN THE HENRY ADAMS HISTORY CLUB BE NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT, THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE NOMINATING COMMITTEE SAID, “WELL, UM HE DOESN’T HAVE ALL OF THE OBJECTIONABLE QUALITIES OF A JEW, BUT HE IS STILL A JEW.” I WAS ABSOLUTELY DUMBFOUNDED–SPEECHLESS.

 

EUGENE EAVES:  I’VE HEARD DR. MANASSE SAY THAT WHEN HE FIRST CAME TO AMERICA AS A FRESHLY MINTED Ph.D. FROM ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTED AND REVERED INSTITUTIONS

 

IN GERMANY–PERHAPS IN ALL OF EUROPE–THE UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG, THAT HE FOUND IT STRANGE THAT HE ENCOUNTERED NEARLY AS MUCH ANTI-SEMITISM HERE AS HE DID IN EUROPE.

 

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN:  THAT’S THE ATTITUDE THAT ONE FOUND AT THE VERY TIME THAT UH JEWISH SCHOLARS WERE FLEEING NAZISM AND COMING TO THIS COUNTRY. AND UH THEY FOUND THAT UH IT MIGHT MORE COMFORTABLE TO TEACH AT NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE FOR NEGROES IN DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA THAN TO TEACH AT SOME OF THOSE HIGH FLOWN, VERY PRESTIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS OF THE NORTHEAST.

 

FINDING HOMES FOR EMIGRES AT VARIOUS BLACK COLLEGES WAS A TASK TAKEN UP BY A HANDFUL OF REFUGEE AID ORGANIZATIONS. BUT OFTEN IT WAS LUCK, FATE OR BOTH THAT DREW  THE SCHOLARS TO THEIR FUTURE HOMES.

EUGENE EAVES:  WE NEEDED A PROFESSOR OF GERMAN, OF LATIN AND PHILOSOPHY. AND WE FOUND ALL THREE IN HERR ERNST.

ERNST MANASSE:  AND I HAD NO INTERVIEW. IT WAS ONLY ON THE BASIS OF MY

PAPERS AND ON THE RECOMMENDATION OF ERNEST ABRAMSON THAT I GOT THE OFFER AND THEN THE APPOINTMENT. AND I THOUGHT AT THAT TIME IT WOULD BE FOR ONE YEAR OR POSSIBLY FOR A FEW YEARS. AND SO– AND IT LASTED. THEN I TAUGHT HERE TILL  1973. I THINK IT WERE 34 YEARS.

WILLIAM JACKSON:  DR. MANASSE FIT IN VERY, VERY WELL IN TERMS OF THE MISSION OF THE INSTITUTION. NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE IN THOSE DAYS I STILL REMEMBER AS VERY, VERY MUCH OF A SALVAGE OPERATION FOR PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF WHO WITHOUT NORTH CAROLINA COLLEGE WOULD HAVE PROBABLY GONE NOWHERE. AND DR. MANASSE AND MRS. MANASSE LET US KNOW THAT THEY WERE PREPARING US FOR WHAT THEY HOPED WOULD BE A WONDERFUL FUTURE AND THAT THEY WERE PREPARED TO SPARE NO PAINS IN SEEING TO THAT.

WILLIAM JACKSON:  DR. MANASSE DID SUGGEST THAT I REALLY SHOULD APPLY FOR A FULBRIGHT. I THINK I EXPRESSED DISMAY AND–AND DISBELIEF THAT HE COULD EVEN EXPECT SUCH A THING OF ME. BUT DR. MANASSE, AS I SAID, WAS A VERY SOFT-SPOKEN PERSON–A VERY, VERY GENTLE PERSON, BUT A VERY, VERY PERSISTENT PERSON. UH AND THIS WAS ONE THING THAT–AND I DON’T UNDERSTAND IT EVEN NOW–THAT HE REALLY WANTED ME TO DO. HE WANTED ME TO APPLY FOR A FULBRIGHT. I REALLY DID GET PERTURBED WHEN–WHEN HE SHOWED ME WHAT THE FORMS LOOKED LIKE. AND I, IN A NOT VERY COMMENDABLE ATTITUDE SAID, OKAY, I WILL FILL OUT THESE FORMS SO THAT YOU WON’T HAVE TO BOTHER ME ABOUT IT ANYMORE–OR SOMETHING TO THAT EFFECT. AND I DID. I WENT AND I FILLED THEM OUT AND APPLIED FOR THE FULBRIGHT, AND HOPED THAT HE WOULD BE SATISFIED, YOU KNOW, THAT I HAD GONE THROUGH THIS VERY, VERY EMPTY PROCESS.  AND THEN I GOT A FULBRIGHT. AND I FELT ABOUT THAT BIG. AND I FELT THAT I JUST COULD NOT CRAWL BACK TO HIS OFFICE LOW ENOUGH AND AN APOLOGY FOR HOW I HAD ACTED. AND THE REMARKABLE THING IS–I AM SURE I REMEMBER THIS CORRECTLY — NEVER ONCE DID HE SAY I TOLD YOU SO.

HOME MOVIES, TAKEN IN DURHAM NORTH CAROLINA CLEARLY REVEAL THE TEXTURE OF THE COMMUNITY THAT DR. MANASSE ENTERED IN 1939.   AS IN  MANY AREAS  IN THE SOUTH, THE WHITE CITIZENRY WAS TIGHT-KNIT AND WARY OF OUTSIDERS.  THOUGH THEY LIVED IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THEIR BLACK NEIGHBORS, THE CITY WAS CLEARLY DIVIDED ALONG RACIAL LINES.

 

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN: ANY REFUGEE SCHOLAR IN A COMMUNITY LIKE DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, UH, WOULD FIND SOME DIFFICULTY IN BALANCING HIMSELF OR HERSELF BETWEEN THE WHITE COMMUNITY IN WHICH HE OR SHE MIGHT LIVE AND THE BLACK COMMUNITY IN WHICH HE OR SHE MIGHT WORK. THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT ERNST MANASSE AND MARION MANASSE HAD TO BE CONSCIOUS OF.

 

GABRIEL MANASSE: MY FATHER DESCRIBES THE SENSE OF BEWILDERMENT AT SUDDENLY FINDING HIMSELF AMONG THE PERSECUTORS BEING PART OF THE WHITE COMMUNITY RATHER THAN BEING THE VICTIM, WHICH IS WHAT HE HAD ESCAPED FROM IN UH IN GERMANY.

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB:  NOT ONLY ARE THEY IN A STRANGE COUNTRY WHEN THEY GO TO THE SOUTH, BUT THEY’RE IN A STRANGE COUNTRY WITHIN A STRANGE COUNTRY. IT IS A–A DOUBLE EXILE IN A SENSE, OR A DOUBLE EXILE EXPERIENCE BECAUSE THEY ARRIVE IN NEW YORK, FOR THE MOST PART, WHERE THERE ARE LOTS OF REFUGEES AND ALL THESE ORGANIZATIONS AND THEN GO TO THE PLACES WHERE THE REFUGEES HANG OUT TOGETHER AND VISIT. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN THEY’RE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTH AT A TIME OF TOTAL SEGREGATION AND WHAT I CALL RACIAL TERROR. BECAUSE IF YOU BREAK THE RULES, YOU ARE LIABLE TO HAVE TERRIBLE TROUBLES.

 

ERNST MANASSE:  A BLACK COLLEAGUE OF MINE–THEY BROUGHT HIM HOME FROM THE COLLEGE TO MY HOUSE. I INVITED HIM TO COME IN AND MEET MY WIFE AND UH CHILDREN. AND THE NEIGHBORS COMPLAINED. AND THIS SHOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN.

 

WILLIAM JACKSON:  HIS INVITING ME OUT TO VISIT HIS HOME WAS A SOMEWHAT PO–POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS EVENT. THERE COULD HAVE BEEN UH A CONGREGATION IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE TO–TO GREET ME, QUOTE UNQUOTE, WHEN I LEFT.

 

ERNST MANASSE:  TWO MONTHS LATER THIS WOULD HAPPEN AGAIN. AND THEN I WAS CALLED AGAIN. AND IT SAID THE NEIGHBORS HAD PROTESTED AND HAD SAID IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN THEY WOULD SHOOT–NOT ON ME OR MY WIFE, BUT ON OUR BLACK GUESTS.                                                             

 

JOYCE LADNER:  THE FEAR WAS EVERY PLACE. IT WAS OMNIPRESENT. I GREW UP IN THE SHADOW OF THE LYNCHING OF EMMITT  TILL. I WAS 12 YEARS OLD WHEN HE WAS LYNCHED UP IN NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI. I LIVED IN SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI NEAR THE COAST. AND IN THE DELTA, UH WHERE HE WAS VISITING HIS–HIS UNCLE AND AUNT OVER THE SUMMER VACATION WHEN HE’D COME DOWN FROM CHICAGO. AND HE WAS TAKEN OUT OF HIS UNCLE’S HOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, LYNCHED BY THESE TWO WHITE MEN–ALL BECAUSE HE ALLEGEDLY WHISTLED AT THE WIFE OF ONE OF THE MEN AT THE LITTLE COUNTRY STORE. THE SHERIFF THAT WAS ALL  POWERFUL IN THESE SMALL SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES KNEW EVERYONE. THEY KEPT TABS ON ANY OUTSIDER. IF YOU HAD RELATIVES VISITING YOU WITH AN OUT OF STATE LICENSE PLATE, I MEAN THEY WERE LIKELY TO COME AROUND AND ASK UM YOU OR YOUR NEIGHBORS WHO’S THERE–WHO IS THIS VISITING OUT OF TOWN. IT WAS– IT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN A LOT WORSE UNDER A KIND OF A FASCIST REGIME.

 

DONALD RASMUSSEN:  AS SOON AS WE LEFT THE CAMPUS, WE FOUND A SITUATION OF EXTREME APARTHEID THAT APPEARED AS AN INSANITY TO US.

 

LORE RASMUSSEN CAME TO TALLADEGA WITH HER HUSBAND DONALD IN 1942, FOUR YEARS AFTER HER ESCAPE FROM NAZI GERMANY. ONE AFTERNOON THE RASMUSSENS INNOCENTLY WENT TO EAT LUNCH IN A LOCAL RESTAURANT, WITH A BLACK COLLEAGUE.  THEY SOON FOUND THEMSELVES HAULED TO JAIL FOR VIOLATING ONE OF THE TOWN’S SEGREGATION ORDINANCES.

 

DONALD RASMUSSEN:  WE WERE SOON INTERRUPTED BY POLICE OFFICERS WHO CAME IN AND ARRESTED US FOR UH VIOLATING THE SANITARY CODE. AND WE WERE ALSO CHARGED WITH INCITING TO RIOT.

 

LORE RASMUSSEN:  THEY SAW ON MY RECORDS THAT I WAS BORN IN GERMANY. THEY SAID AHHH, YOU KNOW, A GERMANY SPY SENT BY HITLER TO FRATERNIZE UH WITH BLACKS.

 

DONALD RASMUSSEN: THE FIRST QUESTION WAS: HOW DID YOU GET THAT WAY? YOU KNOW, THEY JUST COULDN’T UNDERSTAND UH I GUESS A COLLEGE PROFESSOR THEY KNEW THAT UH UH DOING SUCH A STUPID THING AS TO EAT WITH A BLACK PERSON IN A BLACK RESTAURANT.

 

LORE RASMUSSEN:  WHEN THEY FOUND OUT THAT I WAS UM–HAD ESCAPED THE NAZIS AND I WAS A REFUGEE, THEN THEY SAID, “WELL, YOU SHOULD BE GLAD TO BE IN A PLACE WHERE THERE IS DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM.”

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB:  I THINK THE HEART OF THE STORY IS THE WAY THE JEWISH REFUGEES AND THE BLACKS UNDERSTOOD MUTUAL RACIAL TERROR AND OPPRESSION, ALBEIT FROM VERY DIFFERENT HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND HISTORIES. WE STILL HAD RACIAL TERROR IN THE SOUTH. WE STILL HAD A TOTALLY SEGREGATED COUNTRY. WE STILL HAD LYNCHINGS. SO THERE WAS A COMMON UNDERSTANDING.

 

JOHN HERZ:  I COULD ASSUME THAT UH BLACK STUDENTS HAD UH MUCH MORE INTEREST IN AND ALSO MUCH MORE UNDERSTANDING OF UH MOVEMENTS LIKE FASCISM AND NAZISM OR RACISM, ETCETERA, ETCETERA, AND UH THAT IT WAS THEREFORE RELATIVELY EASY TO TEACH THEM UH SOMETHING WHICH MAY NOT HAVE BEEN AS EASY AS THAT AT UH AT A WHITE COLLEGE.

 

PROFESSOR JOHN HERZ SETTLED INTO A TEACHING CAREER AT HOWARD UNIVERSITY IN WASHINGTON, D.C. IN 1941.

 

MRS. HERZ:  WE WENT TO–TO CONCERTS AT THE UNIVERSITY. WE HAD LECTURES AT THE UNIVERSITY. WE LIVED SO CLOSE THAT WE COULD WALK OVER. AND UH STUDENTS ALSO CAME SOMETIMES TO OUR APARTMENT. SO I WAS AT HOME VERY QUICKLY.

 

JOHN HERZ: AND TO THE TRUTH, AFTER MAYBE 1 OR 2 WEEKS I BECAME COLOR BLIND. I DIDN’T HAVE THE IMPRESSION ANYMORE THAT THERE WERE DIFFERENT PEOPLE SITTING IN FRONT OF ME.  IT WAS LIKE ANY ANY KIND OF OTHER STUDENTS, THE SAME AVERAGE OF VERY INTELLIGENT, NOT SO VERY INTELLIGENT

 

PROFESSOR HERZ RECEIVED HIS APPOINTMENT FROM THE CHAIR OF THE POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT, DR. RALPH BUNCHE, WHO WOULD LATER BE AWARDED THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FOR HIS WORK WITH THE UNITED NATIONS.

 

JOHN HERZ: AT THAT TIME HE WAS INTERESTED IN NAZISM AS AN IDEOLOGY AND AS A MOVEMENT, OF COURSE, WHICH UH WAS–NOT ONLY WAS TIED TO ME AS A JEW BUT WAS TIED TO HIM AS A–AS A NEGRO, AS ONE CALLED IT AT THAT TIME. AND UH I REMEMBER THAT ONE OF THE VERY FIRST SCHOLARLY ARTICLES HE UH ASKED ME TO WRITE UH WAS AN ARTICLE ON NAZISM, WHICH WAS PUBLISHED IN ONE ISSUE OF THE “JOURNAL OF NEGRO EDUCATION.”

 

CLINT WILSON:  THIS NOTION OF MAN’S INHUMANITY TO MAN WAS NOT FOREIGN UH TO AFRICAN-AMERICAN CITIZENS. UH AND SO YES, I THINK THERE WAS UH NOT AS MUCH SHOCK PERHAPS AS IT WOULD BE EMPATHY. BECAUSE UH UH WHEN YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH SLAVERY, YOU’RE NOT SHOCKED BY ANYTHING THAT–THAT PEOPLE WILL DO.

 

JOHN BIGGERS:  ONE DAY VICTOR INVITED ME TO GO HOME TO HAVE DINNER WITH THEM. BUT LEAVING THE ART CENTER WE WENT BY THE POST OFFICE TO GET HIS MAIL. AND THERE HE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE STATE DEPARTMENT. AND THIS WAS A TERRIBLE UH LETTER. IT WAS ANNOUNCING UH MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY WHO WERE BURNED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS IN GERMANY. AND UH HE STOPPED FOR A FEW MINUTES ALONG THE ROAD AND READ THE LETTER ALOUD. AND HE SAID TO ME, HE SAID, “JOHN, YOU’RE SEGREGATED. YOU HAVE TO RIDE ON THE BACK OF THE BUS. YOU CAN’T DRINK WATER IN ANY BUILDING. YOU DON’T HAVE TOILET FACILITIES,” HE SAID, “BUT THEY’RE NOT BURNING YOU IN MASS.” HE SAID, “THEY’RE BURNING–THEY JUST BURNED THESE MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY. AND THESE PEOPLE DID NOT COMMIT ANY CRIME. THEY WERE JUST BORN, THAT’S ALL.” SO THIS WAS UH ONE OF THE FIRST LESSONS FOR ME IN WHAT WE CALL RACE PREJUDICE. AND SUDDENLY I REALIZED IT WENT BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE. AND I REALIZED THIS WAS ONE OF THE TRULY GREAT TRAGEDIES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. THIS I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN.

 

WHILE AMERICA CELEBRATED THE END OF WWII, MANY SCHOLARS FOUND THEMSELVES AT A CROSSROADS: SHOULD THEY STAY IN THEIR ADOPTED HOMELAND, OR RETURN TO THE COUNTRIES THEY HAD FLED ONLY YEARS EARLIER.

 

JOHN HERZ:  SOME WENT BACK. BUT THE MAJORITY I THINK DID NOT. AND I BELONGED TO THAT GROUP WHICH FELT WELL, I HAVE COME HERE. I HAVE A JOB HERE. UH OUR SON WAS BORN HERE. THEREFORE, I CONSIDERED THIS COUNTRY AS MY COUNTRY.

 

LIVING IN THE SOUTH WOULD PROFOUNDLY INFLUENCE THE LIFESTYLES OF THE REFUGEE SCHOLARS. BUT IN THE CLASSROOM, THEY REMAINED VERY EUROPEAN… AND VERY FORMAL.

 

ISMAR SCHORSCH:  THE ATMOSPHERE IN A GERMAN UNIVERSITY CLASSROOM WAS VERY AUTHORITARIAN. STUDENTS WOULD RISE WHEN THE PROFESSOR ENTERED. THERE WAS NO SIGN OF IRREVERENCE OR STUDENT INDEPENDENCE. THE GERMAN PROFESSOR WAS AN INDIVIDUAL OF TREMENDOUS AUTHORITY WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY AND WITHIN GERMAN SOCIETY.  ONE AUTHOR HAS CALLED THEM THE MANDARINS OF GERMAN SOCIETY.

 

PROFESSOR ERNST MANASSE WAS TRAINED IN CLASSICS AND PHILOSOPHY AT HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY.

 

EAVES: THERE WERE DAYS WHEN WE CALLED HIM A ZER BURGHER HAUS TYRANT – A VERY WICKED HOUSE TYRANT AND THEN THERE WERE DAYS WE CALLED HIM GRANDFATHER.  WE NEVER LEFT WITH THE IMPRESSION YOU COULD DO NO WRONG.

 

JIM MCWILLIAMS:  IN A PAPPENHEIM CLASSROOM, YOU KNEW THAT THERE WAS GOING TO BE DISCIPLINE. NO ONE WAS TO TALK OUT OF TURN. NO ONE WAS TO UH ARRIVE LATE.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  TIE–ALWAYS WORE TIE, SUIT–DRESS FORMAL IN THE CLASSROOM LECTURE. I CAN SEE HIM NOW–BACK AND FORTH ON THE STAGE, THE BLACKBOARD BEHIND HIM.

 

JIM MCWILLIAMS:  AND WITH BOTH HANDS STUCK IN HIS POCKETS, MAKING SIX STEPS FORWARD AND SIX STEPS BACKWARD.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  HE HAD SOME HUMOROUS UH THINGS THAT UH WENT ALONG WITH THIS VERY STRAIGHT, VERY FORMALIST WAY OF TEACHING–UH LIKE WIPING THE BLACKBOARD WITH HIS SLEEVE, OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT–WITH HIS WRIST OR SOMETHING–NEVER USING THE–SO THAT HE HAD CHALK ON IT. SO THA–THAT WAS SOMETHING, WHAT DO YOU CALL THAT, RELEASED THE TENSION OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN THE CLASS.

 

JOHN HERZ:  WHAT STRUCK ME WHEN I CAME HERE IS UH FAVORABLY UH WAS THE LESS AUTHORITARIAN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FACULTY PROFESSORS ON ONE HAND AND STUDENTS ON THE OTHER HAND, AND ALSO THE MORE EASYGOING WAY WITH WHICH UH THAT RELATIONSHIP FUNCTIONED. FOR EXAMPLE, I REMEMBER ONE INCIDENT. I DON’T KNOW WHETHER YOU WANT–WANT TO MENTION THAT WHERE AFTER A LECTURE–AND A STUDENT CAME TO ME AND UH PUT MY UH SHOULDERS AND SAID, “DOC, YOUR FLY IS OPEN.” WELL, FORGET ABOUT IT.

 

NEWSREEL.: HAMPTON INSTITUTE, LOCATED ON THE BANKS OF HAMPTON ROADS, VIRGINIA, IS PRACTICALLY ON A 24-HOUR BASIS TRAINING HUNDREDS OF WORKERS.

 

CARLA BORDEN:  MAY 23RD, 1939. THE PRESIDENT OF HAMPTON WRITES TO GORDON ALPORT AT HARVARD TO INQUIRE ABOUT VICTOR LOWENFELD, “TO GET CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION FROM YOU AS TO HOW WELL YOU THINK BOTH HE AND MRS. LOWENFELD WOULD FIT INTO THE GENERAL LIFE OF OUR CAMPUS. WE HAVE OVER 1,000 NEGRO STUDENTS LARGELY FROM THE SOUTH. THE STAFF IS BIRACIAL. THE SOCIAL AND RECREATIONAL LIFE OF THE CAMPUS IS ENTERED INTO MUTUALLY BY THE MEMBERS OF BOTH RACES. IF ANYONE HAS PREJUDICES IN SUCH MATTERS, THEY WOULD NOT BE HAPPY HERE. I ASSUME MR. LOWENFELD IS JEWISH. PERSONALLY THAT RAISES NO OBJECTION.”

 

JOHN LOWENFELD:  AT THE TIME, HAMPTON INSTITUTE WAS PARTLY A VOCATIONAL TRADE SCHOOL AND PARTLY A COLLEGE. THE FINE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES WERE NOT AS WELL REPRESENTED. AND ONE OF THE REASONS THAT MY FATHER WENT THERE WAS BECAUSE THEY INVITED HIM TO START THE ART DEPARTMENT.                               

 

JOHN BIGGERS:  I GOT A WORK STUDY SCHOLARSHIP TO GO TO HAMPTON. I WANTED TO BE A PLUMBER. AND UH THAT MEANT THE FIRST YEAR MY DAY WAS SPENT IN UH THE PLUMBING DEPARTMENT. AT NIGHT I STARTED TAKING A COURSE IN ART. AND I FELL IN LOVE WITH ART THROUGH THAT COURSE. AND THAT’S WHEN I MET VICTOR LOWENFELD. AND AFTER MEETING HIM AND BEING INTRODUCED TO A FIELD I KNEW NOTHING ABOUT, UH KNOWING THAT THERE WAS NO RESTRICTIONS–EVERY POSSIBILITY FOR POTENTIAL GROWTH, I CHOSE TO DO ART.

 

JOHN LOWENFELD:  JOHN HAD A GREAT DEAL OF EMOTIONAL NATURE TO EXPRESS. WHEN MY FATHER WORKED WITH HIM, HE BEGAN TO PRODUCE SOME INCREDIBLE STUFF.

 

JOHN BIGGERS:  VICTOR WAS INTERESTED IN OUR INNER FEELINGS–WHAT WE REALLY FELT AND THOUGHT. WE HAD TO EXPRESS OURSELVES. UH WE LIVED A RESTRICTED LIFE OF SEGREGATION AND DISCRIMINATION. SO ART BECAME THE WAY THAT WE COULD SPEAK. VICTOR CHOSE HAMPTON TO COME TO BECAUSE IT WAS A BLACK SCHOOL. AND HE UNDERSTOOD RACIAL PREJUDICE IN AMERICA, AND HE FELT THAT HE SHOULD CAST HIS LOT WITH THOSE PEOPLE WHO WERE WORKING AGAINST RACISM. SEE THE SPARK OF CREATIVITY WAS SO POWERFUL IN HIM, AND HIS SENSITIVITY IN SEEING POTENTIALITIES IN OTHER PEOPLE. HE WENT THROUGH THE TRADE SCHOOL AT HAMPTON AND FOUND A MAN WHO COULD TURN FURNITURE LEGS ON THE LATHE, YOU KNOW. AND HE SAID WELL, IF YOU CAN DO THAT, YOU COULD THROW POTS ON A POTTER’S WHEEL. THIS MAN HAD NEVER HEARD OF A POTTER’S WHEEL. HE TOLD– HE TOLD A MAN HOW A POTTER’S WHEEL WAS MADE. AND THIS GUY, JOSEPH GILLION, MADE A POTTER’S WHEEL AND THEN TAUGHT HIMSELF TO THROW POTS ON IT. THIS MAN TAUGHT CERAMICS IN VICTOR LOWENFELD’S ART DEPARTMENT.

 

JOHN BIGGERS:  MANY, MANY ART HISTORIANS AND PAINTERS HAVE SAID TO ME THAT I COULD NOT BECOME AN ARTIST. I DIDN’T HAVE IT. BUT IT WAS THROUGH THESE RICH EXPERIENCES THAT I’M TALKING ABOUT THAT I DID BECOME AN ARTIST. AND THIS WAS THE GIFT OF VICTOR LOWENFELD.

 

FRITZ PAPPENHEIM WAS FORCED TO LEAVE NAZI GERMANY EARLY ON BECAUSE OF HIS PUBLIC STANCE AS A SOCIALIST. HE ARRIVED IN TALLADEGA IN 1944 TO TEACH GERMAN AND ECONOMICS.

 

YVONNE PAPPENHEIM:   WE LIVED IN A THREE FAMILY HOUSE WITH ONE WHITE FAMILY FROM NEW YORK, WHO DIDN’T LIKE US BECAUSE THEY FELT WE WERE TOO RADICAL; AND A BLACK FAMILY, WHO TOOK ME UNDER THEIR WING TO TEACH ME COOKING SO THAT FRITZ WOULDN’T STARVE.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  HE HAD A VISION OF THE WORLD THAT WAS A SOCIALIST VISION FOR ALL PEOPLE WHERE PEOPLE WERE NOT SUBJECT TO INHUMANITY BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE OR CLASS OR THEIR ETHNICITY OR THEIR BACKGROUND, OR WHAT HAVE YOU. UH SO AT TALLADEGA WE PERCEIVED THAT HE HAD THIS–HE HAD–HE HAD THE–THE HIGH RESPECT AS A SCHOLAR AND THE LOVE AS A PERSON FROM–FROM HIS COLLEAGUES AND FROM HIS STUDENTS.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  THE FIRST OCCASION THAT MADE ME AWARE THAT HE HELD ME WITH SOME ESTEEM WAS UH WHEN I MET LANGSTON HUGHES. AND LANGSTON HUGHES TOLD ME THAT FRITZ PAPPENHEIM HAD SUGGESTED THAT HE CALL ME. AND LANGSTON HUGHES CALLED ME IN THE SUMMER IN NEW YORK. WHEN I GOT HOME MY LANDLADY SAY MR. HUGHES LEFT A MESSAGE HERE FOR YOU, YOU KNOW, WHICH WAS, YOU KNOW, OUT OF SIGHT. RIGHT? AND I CALLED. AND HE SAID, “COME OVER TO MY HOUSE THIS AFTERNOON IF YOU WANT TO.” AND I WENT OVER, AND THEN–THEN I FOUND OUT THAT HE AND FRITZ WERE FRIENDS, YOU KNOW.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  FRITZ WAS SOCIALLY ONE WAY AND THEN PROFESSIONALLY ANOTHER WAY. AND WHEN YOU MET HIM, HE SOMETIMES WOULD BLEND THESE TWO – LIKE WHEN I WOULD GO TO HIS HOUSE. HE WOULD DO PROFESSIONAL STUFF. HIS VOICE WOULD CHANGE ABOUT WHAT BOOK I SHOULD READ OR SO AND SO. AND THEN YVONNE WOULD COME IN AND HE WOULD PAT HER ON THE HEAD. HE DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO PAT PEOPLE, YOU KNOW. HE’D PAT HER ON THE HEAD LIKE THIS. AND WE’D ALL START LAUGHING, AND HE WOULD LAUGH TOO. HE WAS TRYING TO BE TENDER. SO HE WAS PERSONABLE TOO, BUT IN THAT KIND OF MANNER, YOU KNOW. YES. YES. YES.

 

NEWSREEL:  WHO ARE THE APOSTLES OF A SYSTEM THAT ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE?  THERE ARE OTHER COMMUNISTS WHO DON’T SHOW THEIR REAL FACES.

 

WITH THE ONSET OF THE COLD WAR IN THE EARLY 1950’S, MUCH OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WAS SWEPT UP IN ANTI-COMMUNIST HYSTERIA.  MANY REFUGEE SCHOLARS FOUND THEMSELVES TARGETS.

 

NEWSREEL: MY BILL WILL PUBLICALLY IDENTIFY THE COMMUNISTS OF THIS COUNTRY FOR THE FOREIGN AGENTS THAT THEY REALLY ARE.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  FRITZ WAS CALLED TO TESTIFY AT ONE OF THESE GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES. AND HE ANSWERED QUESTIONS, AND OTHER QUESTIONS HE WOULDN’T ANSWER BECAUSE OF UH, YOU KNOW, CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS, PERSONAL RIGHTS, HUMAN RIGHTS. IT WAS NOBODY’S BUSINESS.

 

DONALD RASMUSSEN:  IT WAS ACTUALLY NO GREAT SURPRISE TO US THAT UH HE WAS DENIED HIS TENURE. WELL, IMMEDIATELY THE NEWS OF THAT UH WENT AROUND THE CAMPUS AND IMMEDIATELY LED TO ORGANIZING UH PROTESTS.

 

JIM MCWILLIAMS:  THE WHITE BOARD OF TRUSTEES WERE MEETING IN THE UH RECREATION FACILITY THAT WE HAD THAT WAS NON-AIR-CONDITIONED IN THE SOUTH AT A TIME WHEN THE TEMPERATURE WAS 95 TO 100. AND WE HEARD AS STUDENTS THAT THEY WERE NOT GOING TO GRANT FRITZ PAPPENHEIM TENURE. AND SO WE LOCKED THE DOORS SO THEY COULD NOT GET OUT. AND AS THESE NORTHERNERS BEGAN TO SWEAT, THE WONDERED WHAT COULD THEY DO TO GET OUT.  AND MESSAGES WERE SLIPPED UNDER THE DOORS.

 

DONALD RASMUSSEN: THE STUDENTS INSISTED THAT IF FRITZ WERE TO LEAVE, UH THE PRESIDENT WOULD ALSO HAVE TO LEAVE BECAUSE HE WAS THE ONE WHO REALLY UH EVEN WENT THROUGH FRITZ’S WASTEPAPER BASKETS TO FIND EVIDENCE THAT HE REALLY WAS GETTING HIS UH UH ORDERS FROM MOSCOW.

 

FRITZ PAPPENHEIM WAS NOT GRANTED TENURE, BUT HIS DISMISSAL WOULD PROFOUNDLY  IMPACT THE STUDENTS HE LEFT BEHIND.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  FOR EVERY ACTION THERE’S A REACTION. THE REACTION IN US WAS UH TO COME ALIVE–TO PARTICIPATE IN A STRUGGLE. IT WAS THE FIRST STRUGGLE THAT I REALLY PARTICIPATED IN. AND I WAS SORT OF ON THE SIDELINE BECAUSE I WAS A SOPHOMORE AT THE TIME, AND GROPING AROUND TRYING TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS HAPPENING. UH BUT I WAS THERE AND I WITNESSED IT, YOU KNOW.

SINCE THEIR EMERGENCE IN THE 19TH CENTURY, BLACK COLLEGES HAD BEEN EXEMPT FROM LOCAL SEGREGATION ORDINANCES.  BECAUSE OF THIS UNUSUAL SITUATION, BOTH STUDENTS AND FACULTY  ENJOYED A UNIQUE SENSE OF FREEDOM.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  GOING TO TOUGALOO FROM A TOTALLY REPRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT WHERE YOUR THOUGHTS AND YOUR ACTIONS ARE CONTROLLED BY THE STATE’S SOVEREIGNTY COMMISSION, BY THE CITIZEN’S COUNCIL, BY THE LOCAL POLICE–TOUGALOO WAS THE OASIS IN THE DESERT. AND WHEN I DROVE THROUGH THE GATE OF TOUGALOO–AND THE GATE IS THE SYMBOL OF THE COLLEGE–I LITERALLY BREATHED FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH A SENSE OF FREEDOM THAT I HAD NEVER KNOWN. I FELT LIKE I’D DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  THE TRADITIONAL BLACK COLLEGES IN THE SOUTH SERVED A GREAT PURPOSE. IT EDUCATED BLACK PEOPLE AND BLACK YOUTH. OTHERWISE THEY WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN EDUCATED. THE WAY JIM CROW SYSTEM WORKED, I DOUBT IF NOT ONLY MYSELF BUT ANY OTHER BLACK PERSON WOULD HAVE ASPIRED TO GO TO ANY OTHER SCHOOL THAN A TRADITIONAL BLACK COLLEGE IN THE SOUTH. THE MERE ASPIRATION WAS BLOCKED BY THE SYSTEM.

 

JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN:  THE WHOLE ATMOSPHERE OF THESE INSTITUTIONS WAS ONE WHERE YOU COULD HAVE CIVILIZED DISCOURSE WITHOUT UH, WITHOUT BEING FEARFUL OF WHAT KIND OF REPRISALS MIGHT COME AND THAT SORT OF THING. SO THAT YOU GOT THIS SORT OF RELAXED INTERRACIAL FEELING.

 

ALTHOUGH COLLEGES LIKE TALLADEGA, TOUGALOO AND HAMPTON PROVIDED SAFE HAVEN, MANY OF THE REFUGEE SCHOLARS LIVED OFF-CAMPUS, AMONG SOUTHERN WHITES. THE FACT THAT THEY WERE JEWS, AND SPOKE WITH FOREIGN ACCENTS, KEPT THEM FROM EVER REALLY FITTING IN WITH THEIR WHITE NEIGHBORS.

 

LORE RASMUSSEN:  I REMEMBER WHEN WE STARTED THAT COOPERATIVE STORE, WHICH WAS BLACK OWNED. AND OUR CHILDREN WERE HELPING TO UH TO KEEP INVENTORY AND TO WORK UH IN THAT STORE. AND UH SOME OF THE LOCAL PEOPLE SAID, “ARE THESE WHITE BOYS?” AND SOMEBODY   SAID, “NO. THESE ARE JEW BOYS.” AND THEN “WHAT ARE JEWS?” “WELL, THEY’RE SOME KIND OF COLORED FOLKS.”

 

CARLA BORDEN: THE REFUGEES WERE LOOKED AT WITH SOME SUSPICION BY SOUTHERN WHITES BECAUSE THEY WERE OFTEN JEWISH. THEY WERE BROKE. THEY WERE REFUGEES. AND THEY WERE MUCH MORE HIGHLY EDUCATED THAN MANY SOUTHERNERS.  THE STUDENTS WERE MORE TRUSTING OF THE REFUGEES THAN THEY WERE THE AMERICAN WHITES.

 

JOHN HERZ:  IT MAY ALSO BE THAT THEY CONSIDERED ME AS NOT COMPLETELY WHITE. I ONCE ASKED A STUDENT, THEY HAD A MEDICAL SCHOOL THERE, TOO.  A SCHOOL OF MEDICINE. AND I ASKED A STUDENT WHETHER THEY HAD ANY UH, WHITE STUDENTS UH, IN THAT SCHOOL AND HE SAID, WHITE STUDENTS, NO, ONLY A FEW JEWS.  SO THE JEWS

APPARENTLY IN HIS MIND WERE SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE BETWEEN, YOU KNOW?

 

DONALD CUNNIGEN:   I WAS, AS A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, WENT TO SUMMER CAMP IN UPSTATE NEW YORK. AND THERE WERE A NUMBER OF JEWISH UH KIDS IN THE CAMP. AND I REMEMBER RETURNING HOME AND WE GOT INTO THIS DISCUSSION IN MY LITTLE HIGH SCHOOL IN MAGNOLIA, MISSISSIPPI – AND I WAS TALKING ABOUT MY JEWISH FRIENDS. AND I MENTIONED THAT THEY WERE CAUCASIAN. AND I GOT INTO THIS HEATED ARGUMENT WITH MY CLASSMATES WHO SAID: JEWISH PEOPLE ARE BLACK. AND THEY WENT ON THIS LONG THING LIKE: READ THE BIBLE. YOU SEE HOW THEY WERE OPPRESSED? THOSE ARE BLACK PEOPLE. AND LIKE THEY WOULD NOT BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAID — WHEN I TOLD THEM IT’S A FAITH –IT’S A RELIGION YOU KNOW. AND – BECAUSE THEIR READING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT WAS THAT IF ANYBODY SUFFERED LIKE THIS, THEY HAD TO BE BLACK PEOPLE. THEY COULDN’T DO WHITE PEOPLE THIS WAY.

 

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT FOCUSED A SHARP LENS ON AMERICA’S PROFOUND RACIAL INEQUALITIES. FOR THE REFUGEE SCHOLARS, NO STRANGERS TO OPPRESSION THEMSELVES, IT OFFERED A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO ADD THEIR VOICES TO A GROWING CHORUS THAT DID NOT ASK FOR, BUT DEMANDED FREEDOM.

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB:  PROFESSOR ERNST BORINSKI TAUGHT SOCIOLOGY AT TOUGALOO COLLEGE AND HAD A TREMENDOUS EFFECT ON WHAT WAS GOING ON THERE IN  THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.  HE MADE A VERY CONSCIOUS DECISION THAT THIS WAS WHERE HE WANTED TO BE AND WHERE HE WANTED TO STAY.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  THE AVERAGE WHITE PERSON SAW DR. BORINSKI AS A LITTLE SHORT, JEWISH MAN WHO WAS A COMMUNIST. BECAUSE THEY HATED BLACKS. THEY HATED JEWS. HE TAUGHT AT A BLACK COLLEGE, WHICH WAS JUST SOMETHING YOU ABSOLUTELY– IT WAS TREASONOUS.

 

DONALD CUNNIGEN:  THERE WAS SOMETHING ESTABLISHED IN THE 1950’S – THE STATE SOVEREIGNTY COMMISSION, WHICH WAS A SURVEILLING ORGANIZATION THAT ESSENTIALLY DID SURVEILLANCE OF CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISTS AND FELLOW TRAVELERS AND BORINSKI WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE THEY KEPT CLOSE TABS ON.

 

PROFESSOR ERNST BORINSKI, WHO SERVED AS A JUDGE IN PRE-WAR GERMANY, HAD A PASSIONATE BELIEF IN HUMAN RIGHTS.  AT TOUGALOO, EVEN BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT OUTLAWED SEGREGATION, HE HAD BEEN ACTIVE IN PROMOTING INTEGRATION ON AND OFF CAMPUS.

 

FRANCIS COKER:  HE SPONSORED WEDNESDAY NIGHT FORUMS. HE HAD SPEAKERS FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, ACTUALLY FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD TO COME TO THESE FORUMS.

 

JIM LOEWEN:  THE SOCIAL SCIENCE FORUM WAS POSSIBLY THE ONLY PLACE WHERE BLACKS AND WHITES UH COULD ACTUALLY GO AND TALK TO EACH OTHER. YOU HAVE TO REALIZE HOW CLOSED THE SOCIETY OF MISSISSIPPI WAS.

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB: THE AUTHORITIES IN MISSISSIPPI DID NOT LIKE THIS AND THEY TOOK DOWN LICENSE PLATE NUMBERS FROM CARS.

 

JOYCE LADNER:   AND THEN THEY’D RUN A POLICE CHECK AND OFTENTIMES THE PERSON GOT A VISIT AFTERWARDS OR THEY VISITED YOUR EMPLOYER, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT. AND SOME PEOPLE LOST JOBS AS A RESULT.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  TO ONE OF DR. BORINSKI’S SOCIAL SCIENCE FORUMS HE INVITED RALPH BUNCHE, WHO WAS THEN THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS. AND HE INVITED HIM TO CELEBRATE UNITED NATIONS DAY. AND TO CELEBRATE UNITED NATIONS DAY AT ALL IN A STATE THAT DIDN’T EVEN WANT TO BE A PART OF THE UNION WAS A REAL ACT OF DEFIANCE.

 

JIM LOEWEN:  AND BEFORE EACH SPEECH BORINSKI WOULD INVITE ABOUT 20 PEOPLE TO DINNER. AND HE WOULD HAVE THEM IN THAT BACK ROOM OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCE LAB SITTING AROUND CRAZY LITTLE TABLES THAT WERE–THAT WERE BEATEN UP TABLES FROM THE 1920’S THAT WERE REALLY FOR–FOR UH STUDENT USE. AND HALF OF THE 20 WOULD BE TOUGALOO STUDENTS. UH THE OTHER HALF WOULD BE OUTSIDERS, MANY OF THEM WHITE.

 

GABRIELLE EDGCOMB:  AND HE TOLD HIS AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS TO COME EARLY AND OCCUPY EVERY OTHER CHAIR. SO WHEN THE WHITES CAME, THEY HAD TO SIT WITH THE BLACKS IN BETWEEN.

 

JIM LOEWEN:  FOR BOTH SETS OF PEOPLE IT WAS LIKELY THE FIRST TIME THAT THEY HAD EVER EATEN WITH SOMEONE FROM THE OPPOSITE RACE. VERY, VERY AWKWARD OFTEN–UH A SOPHOMORE STUDENT WHO HAD NEVER BEEN IN THAT SITUATION AND A 60 YEAR OLD WHITE LADY WHO HAD ALSO NEVER BEEN IN THAT SITUATION.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  HE WAS A FACILITATOR. HE BROUGHT YOU TOGETHER AND THEN YOU WERE ON YOUR OWN. I MEAN HE DIDN’T HAVE TO GUIDE THE CONVERSATION OR ANYTHING. HE ALWAYS HAD AN ECLECTIC INTERESTING SORT OF THE MIX OF PEOPLE AROUND HIM.

 

DONALD CUNNIGEN:  BORINSKI WAS ALWAYS CONCERNED ABOUT READING AND SCHOLARSHIP. AND HE FELT THAT BECAUSE HE SPENT ALL HIS TIME READING BOOKS THAT EVERYBODY ELSE SHOULD SPEND ALL OF THEIR TIME READING. I’M SITTING OUT ON THE CAMPUS ON ONE OF THE BENCHES WITH TWO YOUNG LADIES JUST CHILLING, AS THEY SAY TODAY.  AND BORINSKI WALKS UP TO ME, YOU KNOW, FOUR BY FOUR BORINSKI – LAY HIM SIDEWAYS AND HE’S THE SAME HEIGHT. “MR. CUNNIGEN, YOU SHOULD BE READING AS I SPEAK.” AND HE GOES ON. HE GOES ON THIS THING FOR LIKE‑‑THIS WAY FOR LIKE 20 SOME MINUTES… AND SEVERAL DAYS LATER WHEN I COME IN TO DO MY LITTLE BIT, KNOW, FOR RESEARCH ASSISTANT HE APOLOGIZES PROFUSELY. YOU KNOW, OH, I REALIZE YOU WERE WITH YOUNG LADIES, AND THAT WAS INAPPROPRIATE, AND SO ON AND SO FORTH.

 

JIM LOWEN:  STUDENTS DIDN’T QUITE KNOW WHAT TO MAKE OF HIM. THEY CERTAINLY KNEW THAT HE WASN’T A WHITE MISSISSIPPIAN. THEY KIND OF TREATED HIM WITH A GREAT DEAL OF AFFECTION, AS A CURIOSITY, AN INTERESTING MAN. THEY DEVELOPED A NICKNAME FOR HIM. AND EVERYONE KNEW THAT NICKNAME EXCEPT BORINSKI – WE THOUGHT. THE NICKNAME WAS BOBO.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  UM WHEN I GOT OUT OF GRADUATE SCHOOL HE INVITED ME BACK UH AT LEAST TWICE TO SPEAK AT HIS FORUMS. AND THE LAST TIME I WENT BACK I STAYED AT HIS HOUSE. FOR ALL THOSE YEARS HE LIVED IN THE MEN’S DORMITORY IN A SMALL APARTMENT. AND THEN HE–THE COLLEGE HAD BUILT A LITTLE BRICK HOUSE FOR HIM RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE CAMPUS. AND HE ASKED ME IF I WOULD BE HIS HOUSE GUEST. AND I SAID OF COURSE. I MEAN I HAD NEVER SEEN HOW HE LIVED BEFORE. SO IT WAS VERY NICE. AND I REMEMBER HE MADE UM UH A PATE.  HE TAUGHT ME HOW TO MAKE PATE. HE TOOK LIVERWURST, WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE AND CHOPPED ONIONS–FINELY CHOPPED ONION, AND HE MIXED IT TOGETHER AND UH MADE A SPREAD WITH IT. SO I STILL MAKE PATE LIKE HE MADE IT.

 

FRANCIS COKER:  HE HAD FAMILIES IN THE WHITE COMMUNITY THAT HE WAS VERY CLOSE TO. HE HAD FAMILIES IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY THAT HE WAS VERY CLOSE TO. AND HE WAS A BRIDGE TRYING TO CONNECT THESE – THESE COMMUNITIES AS BEST HE COULD. HE UM HE WAS EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL IN DOING THIS AND CHALLENGING THE SYSTEM.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  WHEN I WAS OLDER I ASKED, “DR. BORINSKI, HOW IS IT THAT YOU GOT THIS LAB, AND WHY DID YOU BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER?” HE SAID, “BECAUSE I DIDN’T DO DEMON – CIVIL RIGHTS DEMONSTRATIONS. I DIDN’T GO OUT TO PROTEST AND TO GO TO JAIL. BUT I ALSO FELT THAT EACH PERSON IN HIS OWN WAY COULD MAKE A CONTRIBUTION. AND MINE WAS TO HAVE PEOPLE SHARE IDEAS.” AND WHAT A POWERFUL STATEMENT THAT WAS.

 

STOKELY CARMICHAEL:  SO NOW TODAY, BECAUSE WE HAVE LEARNED FROM GREAT BLACK LEADERS, WHEN WE SAY BLACK POWER, SOME HONKY SAYS, “YOU MEAN VIOLENCE.”  AND HE EXPECTS US TO, “UH, UH, BOSS MAN, WE DON’T MEAN VIOLENCE.”  LATER FOR THE HONKY, LATER FOR HIM, LATER FOR HIM, LATER FOR HIM.

 

BY THE LATE 1960’S THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HAD YIELDED TO THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK POWER. FOR MANY OF THE REFUGEE SCHOLARS, THIS CHANGE IN THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT.

 

DONALD CUNNIGEN:  THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT WAS A DIFFICULT PERIOD FOR MANY WHITE FACULTY MEMBERS. BECAUSE THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT WAS ALL ABOUT BLACK SEPARATISM.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  THERE WAS A LOT OF FRUSTRATION AT NOT BEING TO EFFECT AS MUCH CHANGE AS THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN. SO ONE OF THE RESPONSES, AND I SHOULD EMPHASIZE THAT ONE OF THEM WAS THAT WE SHOULD HAVE BLACK POWER, THAT PERHAPS THE ONLY WAY WE WERE GOING TO HAVE ANY REAL LEVERAGE IN THE SOCIETY IS BY EMPOWER – HELPING TO EMPOWER BLACK PEOPLE TO HAVE THEIR OWN VOICE.  THERE WAS A STRONG FEELING THAT BLACKS SHOULD IDENTIFY WITH BLACKS.

 

RAY BROWN:  THERE WAS A SIMILAR CATHARSIS GOING ON AROUND THE COUNTRY ABOUT THIS STRUGGLE ABOUT WHAT DOES FREEDOM MEAN – TO WHAT EXTENT DO WE HAVE TO ACHIEVE IT ON OUR OWN – TO WHAT EXTENT CAN WE WORK WITH WHITES WHO ARE SUPPORTIVE.

 

ERNST MANASSE:  I DESIGNED A COURSE CALLED THE RACE PROBLEM OR NEGRO PROBLEM I DO NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT THE TITLE WAS. IT WAS IN – IT WAS IN I THINK IN THE CATALOG. AND I GAVE IT UH THE FIRST YEAR I GAVE IT AS A NON-CREDIT COURSE. AND THEY ALSO – SOME OF MY COLLEAGUES TOOK PART. AND WE HAD REAL HISTORICAL DISCUSSION, I MEAN WITHOUT ENMITY, WITHOUT VENOM, AS FAR AS I REMEMBER.

 

GABRIEL MANASSE: AND I THINK INITIALLY THAT WAS A BIG SUCCESS. AND UH IT GENERATED A LOT OF INTEREST AND SUPPORT. AND OVER TIME, IF I UNDERSTOOD IT CORRECTLY, UM THERE BECAME A LARGER GROUP WHO WONDERED WHAT HE WAS DOING TEACHING IT AND SHOULD THIS REALLY BE TAUGHT BY A WHITE MAN. AND – AND I THINK THAT’S PART OF HIS SORT OF PHILOSOPHICAL BENT TO WONDER ABOUT THAT HIMSELF.

 

RAY BROWN:  THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT WHICH TALKED OF THE BLACKS SEIZING CONTROL OF OUR OWN INSTITUTIONS ALSO TALKED ABOUT US SEIZING CONTROL OF OUR HISTORY WHICH MEANT, AT LEAST AT THE SUPERFICIAL LEVEL, THAT WE OUGHT TO WRITE THE HISTORY OF THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK FOLKS IN AMERICA, WHICH MEANT WHITE FOLKS SHOULDN’T TEACH IT.

 

DONALD CUNNIGEN:  I WENT TO A LUNCHEON AT M.I.T. ONCE. AND IT WAS STUDENTS WHO HAD BEEN IN MOREHOUSE AND BENJAMIN E. MAYS, WHO WAS A MOREHOUSE PRESIDENT, HAD BEEN THEIR MENTOR. AND THEY WERE ALL GIVING THESE GREAT BEN E. MAYS STORIES AND HOW HE HAD SHAPED THEIR LIVES AND REALLY – THIS BLACK MAN, STRONG, BLACK INTELLECTUAL HAD SHAPED THEIR LIVES IN THIS MOST CRITICAL WAY.  AND I REMEMBER SITTING IN THAT LUNCHEON FEELING A BIT AWKWARD.  BECAUSE MY MENTOR WAS NOT A BLACK MAN. IT WAS A WHITE, JEWISH IMMIGRANT – GERMAN JEWISH IMMIGRANT. AND SO I’M SORT OF THINKING AS THEY’RE THINKING. THEY WERE SAYING ALL THESE THINGS ABOUT HOW AS MEN THEY WERE LEARNING HOW TO NEGOTIATE THE WORLD BECAUSE THEY HAD THIS BLACK MAN AS A ROLE MODEL. AND I WAS THINKING – WELL WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME IN TERMS OF HOW I VIEW THE WORLD AND THE THINGS THAT I WANT TO DO?

 

JOHN BIGGERS:  LOWENFELD WAS A VERY PRACTICAL MAN. AND HE GAVE VERY SOUND ADVICE TO ALL OF HIS STUDENTS. AND HE INSISTED THAT I GET A DOCTORATE DEGREE, AND HE ALWAYS SAID JOHN, YOU’VE GOT TO TEACH. YOU CAN’T EVEN GUESS THE RICHNESS THAT WE ARE LETTING GO DOWN THE DRAIN–ALL OF THE TALENT THAT IS LYING OUT THERE IN THAT TERRIBLE GHETTO. AND HE WAS RIGHT.

 

JOYCE LADNER:  WHEN I GOT READY TO GO TO GRADUATE SCHOOL, I DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY FOR THE APPLICATION. SO DR. BORINSKI SAT DOWN AND WROTE THE CHECKS FOR AND WHEN I GOT MY DEGREE FOUR YEARS LATER, HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON I CALLED TO TELL HIM THAT I JUST DEFENDED MY DISSERTATION. SENT ME A LETTER WITH A HUNDRED DOLLAR CHECK AND SAID–TAKE THIS MONEY. AND YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS GO OUT TO DINNER BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT.

 

CALVIN HERNTON:  I WROTE A BOOK CALLED “WHITE PAPERS.” I THOUGHT SOME OF THE IDEAS AND SOME OF THE WAYS OF THINKING, WAYS OF APPROACHING AND INTERPRETING SITUATIONS, UH WERE INFLUENCED BY DR. PAPPENHEIM. AND I DEDICATED THE BOOK TO HIM BECAUSE I WANTED TO GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO HIM I SUPPOSE, YOU KNOW. AND I THOUGHT–I THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE NICE, YOU KNOW.  BUT HE NEVER LIVED TO SEE IT, YOU KNOW. HE

 

EUGENE EAVES:  WHEN DR. MANASSE CAME HERE, NOBODY HAD A PLACE FOR THE IMMIGRANT SCHOLAR. AND DR. SHEPHERD OFFERED HIM THE JOB, BROUGHT HIM DOWN, AND HELPED TO GET HIM AND HIS YOUNG FAMILY SET UP. AND HE REMAINED I THINK INDEBTED TO DR. SHEPHERD FOR THAT. AT LEAST HE REMAINED COMMITTED. HE SPENT A SEMESTER AT PRINCETON. AND I WOULD ASK HIM, “WELL, DOC, YOU WERE AT PRINCETON. WHY DIDN’T YOU STAY?”  HE SAID, “OH, I COULD NEVER DO THAT.”  AND EVEN WHEN I’D SAY, “WELL, YOU KNOW, DR. SHEPHERD IS DEAD,” HE SAID, “I COULD NEVER DO THAT. I WILL ALWAYS STAY HERE.”

 

Title:   We dedicate this film to          

            the memory of

            Gabrielle Edgcomb

 

FADE OUT.

ROLL END CREDITS: