Jim Crow and the Nuremberg Laws

This course examines connections between American racial laws during the Jim Crow era and the development of Nazi Germany**s Nuremberg Laws in the 1930s. Particular emphasis is placed on how Nazi legal thinkers studied aspects of American race law while developing policies in Germany. Primary source documents and historical scholarship will be used to compare how both societies defined race, citizenship, and legal rights. Students will consider how governments used legal systems to limit civil rights and shape national identity during a period of political and social upheaval.