Seton Hall Professor Examines Racism in Film at Drew University

Madison, N.J. - The racism in two 20th century films is the focus of an upcoming talk at Drew Universit

Dr. Larry Greene, a history professor at Seton Hall University, will explore the role of gender and race in 1915’s The Birth of a Nation and 1940’s Jud Süß. Greene will speak Oct. 24 in Room 28 of the Drew Learning Center, which is in the basement of Rose Memorial Library. The start time is 4 p.m.

Greene’s talk is presented by the Drew Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study.

Greene, who has a PhD in history from Columbia University, is also co-chair of the Center’s Board of Associates. His academic specialties include African-American history, the Civil War and World War II.

The Birth of a Nation, directed by D.W. Griffith, is among the most controversial and commercially successful films of the silent movie era. It’s based on the book, The Clansman by Thomas Dixon, Jr., and focuses on the Civil War and Reconstruction era from a Southern perspective. The film includes vicious stereotypes of African Americans and heroic depictions of the Ku Klux Klan.

Jud Süß, a German Nazi propaganda film, is considered the most effective anti-Semitic film of all time. In fact, Adolf Hitler and his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, believed it was a potent tool for molding public opinion. Seen by 20 million people, Jud Süß uses racial stereotypes to justify the persecution of Jews.

Greene’s talk is part of a fall series from the Center that’s free and open to the public. Other upcoming events include Oct. 27’s “Conversation with Witness,” featuring Holocaust survivor Hedy Brasch, and Nov. 15’s annual Kristallnacht commemoration with Erwin Ganz. For more information, click here, call 973-408-3600 or email ctrholstu@drew.edu.

Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study

Founded in 1992 through a grant from the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education, the Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study offers a variety of events, including an annual November conference in memory of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) and an annual commemoration of Yom HaShoah (Day of Remembrance). The Center also offers films, lectures, performances, workshops and commemorative events dealing with the Holocaust and with other genocides such as in Armenia, Bosnia, Cambodia, Darfur and Rwanda. The Center enriches Drew’s undergraduate and graduate course work by bringing notable scholars and speakers to campus, organizing visits to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and providing additional resources that enhance the study of Holocaust and genocide. It also supports faculty research by, for example, commissioning an English translation of a German text dealing with Nazi slave labor camps. All events are open to the larger community.

Drew University

Drew University, a Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts university, includes the College of Liberal Arts, the Drew Theological School and the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. Drew is located on a beautiful, wooded, 186-acre campus in Madison, New Jersey, a thriving small town close to New York City. It has a total enrollment of more than 2,000 students and has 145 full-time faculty members, 94% of whom hold the terminal degree in their field. The Theological and Caspersen Schools offer MA and PhD degrees and the College confers BA degrees in 30 disciplines.

Drew is dedicated to exceptional faculty mentorship, a commitment to connecting the campus with the community and a focus on experiential learning. Particularly noteworthy opportunities for undergraduates include the the Charles A. Dana Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti (RISE), home of 2015 Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine and Drew Fellow William Campbell, the Drew Summer Science Institute, the Center for Civic Engagement, Wall Street Semester, Semester at the United Nations, Semester on Contemporary Art and Semester on Communications and Media in New York City and several international semester programs. The University also houses the Center for Civic Engagement, the Drew Summer Science Institute, Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict, Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, an independent professional theater, as well as the United Methodist Archives and History Center and one of the country’s leading concentrations of materials on Willa Cather.