Columbia’s Roger Lehecka Double Discovery Center (DDC), a Harlem-based counseling and educational programming for students from low-income households, mounted for the first time in its history a course on antisemitism—thanks to the help of IIJS.
In conjunction with her Rene Plessner Postdoctoral Fellowship in Antisemitism and Holocaust Studies, Dr. Britt Tevis is not only teaching Columbia students but is also educating DDC students about the history and nature of antisemitism. Rabiyya Smith, Associate Director for Academic Enrichment at DDC, worked to develop a curriculum that not only allowed Dr. Tevis, an expert in the history of American antisemitism, to teach students, but also contextualized antisemitism amidst other forms of bigotry, racism and oppression. Ultimately, Dr. Tevis’ lesson was part of a series that also included lessons on Islamophobia, homophobia and transphobia, and ableism.
While all the lessons offered at the Double Discovery Center are entirely optional, students turned out to fill every seat in Dr. Tevis’ evening class. Students arrived with varying levels of knowledge about antisemitism. Some students admitted they never studied the subject in the classroom, but all were ready, and excited, to learn from Dr. Tevis.
“I am very grateful that the students brought so much to the table. They came equipped with critical thinking skills and the capacity to be open-minded, allowing them to ask both interesting and meaningful questions about the historical examples they encountered,” Dr. Tevis said of the course. “Students approached the contents of the lesson like historians—with neutral curiosity and objectivity, asking questions before judging. They asked questions that indicated they were grappling with, digesting, considering the materials that they encountered.”
The lesson explored antisemitism through the lens of American history, examining concrete examples of antisemitism in U.S. history. These included excerpts from police memos that describe a Jewish suspect using racialized stereotypes to housing contracts that prohibited Jews from taking up residence in particular neighborhoods. Students used their knowledge from other lessons in the series, as well as personal experiences, to understand antisemitism in the context of American history and other forms of discrimination, drawing meaningful comparisons and identifying important differences.
“I am so appreciative that anti-Jewish discrimination was included in this DDC course,” Dr. Tevis said. Student feedback on Dr. Tevis’ lesson and the broader coursework was so positive that the Double Discovery Center has asked Dr. Tevis to teach a new cohort of students about antisemitism this spring.