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Black Jewish Relations - Wide River Project
Ain’t No Back to a Merry-Go-Round: The Little-Known Story of a Segregated Amusement Park with Ilana Trachtman and Dan Freedman
Ilana Trachtman talks about the protests at a segregated amusement park early in the Civil Rights Movement and how she was able to share this forgotten story.
Reinventing Black-Jewish Relations: Learning from the Past and Embracing the New with Marc Dollinger, Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein
Join Marc Dollinger, author of Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960s; Civil Rights Strategist Eric K. Ward and Moment Editor-in-Chief Nadine Epstein for a conversation about the state of Black-Jewish relations and ways to build a new alliance for a very different time.
It’s not a Conspiracy: The Jewish and Black Origins of the Skinhead Movement with Jacob Kornbluth, Eric K. Ward, Pan Nesbitt and Nadine Epstein
Jewish and Black origins of the Skinhead movement, how punk activists like Ward and Nesbitt successfully pushed back against white nationalists and neo-Nazis to save the subculture.
The Importance of Storytelling in the Black and Jewish Communities with Eric K. Ward, Nadine Epstein, Adam Mansbach and Langston Collin Wilkins
A conversation about the importance of folklore in both the Black and Jewish communities, from the golem and Anansi the Spider to Hip Hop and Jewish Jokes.
Black-Jewish Relations: Coming Together to Fight Racism and Antisemitism with Rochelle L. Ford and Nadine Epstein
Join Dr. Rochelle L. Ford, President of Dillard University in New Orleans, for a conversation about why she made the decision to revitalize the university’s National Center for Black-Jewish Relations which was first founded in 1989 and how the two communities can build relationships to fight hate.
How Much Do We Really Know About Hebrew Israelites?
The latest Wide River Project discussion also reflected how a conversation about difference can be informative, sincere and uncomfortable—and therefore productive.
Who Are the Hebrew Israelites? with Andre E. Brooks-Key, Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein
Join us as we take a deep dive into the origins of Hebrew Israelites, the movement today and its impact on Black-Jewish dialogue.
Back in Time to 1909: The Black Jewish Relationship and the founding of the NAACP with Lillie J. Edwards and Nadine Epstein
W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Henry Moskowitz, Rabbi Emil Hirsch, Rabbi Stephen Samuel Wise, Lillian Wald and others came together to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), launching a historic chapter in the fight for civil rights. Dr. Lillie J. Edwards, Professor Emerita of History and African American studies at Drew University discusses what was going on in 1909, the importance of this Black-Jewish coalition, and how the Black and Jewish communities can continue to work together to counter racism.
The Educational Legacy of Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington with Dorothy Canter, Marian and Valerie Coleman, Stephanie Deutsch, Andrew Feiler and Aviva Kempner
A discussion about Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington’s historic partnership, the impact the Rosenwald schools had on the African American community and the importance of remembering and preserving their legacy.
The Little-Known Story of Jewish Refugee Professors at Historically Black Colleges & Universities with Lillie J. Edwards and Nadine Epstein
When German Jewish scholars were expelled from universities after the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, many hoped to flee to the United States. But it wasn’t easy to find educational institutions to sponsor them due to rampant antisemitism in academia. Some of the lucky ones found homes at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Join Dr. Lillie J. Edwards, Professor Emerita of History and African American studies at Drew University, for a conversation about why HBCUs offered Jewish scholars positions, the influence these teachers had on their students and the impact the students and schools had on the lives of these refugees. In conversation with Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein.
This conversation is part of a Moment series on antisemitism supported by the Joyce and Irving Goldman Family Foundation. The program is also a part of The Wide River Project, a yearlong, joint initiative of Western States Center and Moment Magazine, that takes a deep dive—and fresh look—into the art, history and issues that both unite and divide the Black and Jewish communities.
The Black Jewish Relationship: Triumphs and Tensions with Eric K. Ward, Nadine Epstein and Clarence Page
Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page is a longtime observer of the Black and Jewish relationship in America. Nadine Epstein, Moment editor-in-chief and Eric K. Ward, executive director of Western States Center, host him for a wide-ranging conversation covering pivotal moments of that relationship, exploring the shared history, and triumphs and tensions. Topics include the civil rights partnership, Black Panthers, Norman Podhoretz’s 1963 essay “My Negro Problem-And Ours” essay, the rise of Louis Farrakhan and much more. *Please note special day.
This program is part of The Wide River Project, a joint initiative of Western States Center and Moment that takes a deep dive—and fresh look—into the art, history and issues that both unite and divide the Black and Jewish communities.
Blacks, Jews, Jazz & Blues with Loren Schoenberg, Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein
In the 19th century Black spirituals were inspired by biblical stories in the Old Testament, especially those we remember during Passover. In the early decades of the 20th century, Black and Jewish musicians, often living side by side in the same impoverished neighborhoods, connected through legacies of oppression. With the music industry one of the few fields open to them both, it’s no surprise that blues and jazz became rich, crossover genres. Join Loren Schoenberg, senior scholar at The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, Eric K. Ward, executive director of Western States Center and Nadine Epstein, Moment editor-in-chief, for a conversation about these musical connections, the bonds and tensions, and a taste of the music itself including Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho and Go Down Moses to Bei Mir Bist Du Shein.
Black and Jewish views on Critical Race Theory with Janet Dewart Bell, Mia Brett, Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein
Nothing shines a light on the political divide in the United States more than three words – critical race theory. What is CRT and why has it become a lightning rod issue at school board meetings, state capitols and around dinner tables across the country? Is systemic racism something we should be worried about, even in the Jewish community? What are memory laws and are they a threat to our democracy? And shouldn’t we all feel uncomfortable when learning about uncomfortable issues? Dr. Janet Dewart Bell, author of Race, Rights, and Redemption: The Derrick Bell Lectures on Law and Critical Race Theory and writer Dr. Mia Brett, joins Eric K. Ward, executive director of Western States Center and Moment editor-in-chief Nadine Epstein to discuss how intellectual conversations about the intersection of race and law developed in the 1970s have been misunderstood and led to this latest buzzword tearing communities apart. Our thinkers also discuss how CRT fits into the Black – Jewish conversation.
This program is part of The Wide River Project, a yearlong, joint initiative of Western States Center and Moment that will take a deep dive—and fresh look—into the art, history and issues that both unite and divide the Black and Jewish communities.
The Holocaust Through the Lens of Black-Jewish Relations with Eric K. Ward and Nadine Epstein
Eric K. Ward, executive director of Western States Center and senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center and Nadine Epstein, Moment editor-in-chief, grapple with the complicated conversations taking place around the Holocaust today and lay out some of the many “channels” of the complex relationship between Blacks and Jews in the U.S., starting in the early 20th century through today. Ward and Epstein introduce The Wide River Project, a yearlong, joint initiative of Western States Center and Moment that will take a deep dive—and fresh look—into the art, history and issues that both unite and divide the Black and Jewish communities.