The Campus Community Book Project started out by asking, "Why are all the black kids sitting together in the cafeteria?" — based on th book of the same name.

Next week's follow-up question dates back to the early 1930s: "What's with all those formal, heavily-accented European scholars in America's black colleges?"

The answer is told in the documentary film From Swastika to Jim Crow, due to be presented free of charge on Nov. 8. The film and a discussion are scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Shields Library Instruction Lab, on the library's first floor.

From Swastika to Jim Crow tells the story of white, Jewish professors and their black students with a shared history of being despised and persecuted based on race. The professors had fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, where the academic establishment proved not so welcoming — except in the black colleges of the South.

There, amid the government sanctioned segregation of the time, the professors and students enriched each other's lives in ways still being felt today, according to Pacific Street Films, which made the documentary. It debuted on PBS in 2001.

Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher, who founded Pacific Street Films, interviewed professors and students for From Swastika to Jim Crow.

"We hope that viewers simply draw inspiration from these stories and use them as a vehicle for understanding that, despite the rhetoric, there is more that draws disparate groups together than potentially, and sometimes tragically, rips them apart," Fischler and Sucher said in a question-and-answer section on the PBS website.

Next week's Campus Community Book Project schedule also includes another documentary, From the Community to the Classroom — Acts of Hate, Racial Inequality and Seven Years of Student Led Change in Davis’ “Excellent” Public Schools, directed by Davis youths.

The documentary has already been shown once as part of the book project. The first showing took place on the Davis campus, while the next is set to take place on the Sacramento campus: 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 9, in 1222 Education Building, 4610 X St.

Other book project programs:

LECTURES-PANEL DISCUSSIONS

• Talking Food, Talking Race: A Conversation About Racial Identity and Food Politics — A conversation between two food activists-scholars on notions of race, identity and the politics of eating. With Alison Alkon, professor of sociology at the University of Pacific, and A. Breeze Harper, Ph.D. candidate in geography at UC Davis. Moderator: Kimberly Nettles, associate professor, women and gender studies. 12:10-1:30 p.m. Nov. 5, Mee Room, Memorial Union.

• Racial-Cultural Identities and Interpersonal Exchanges —
An overview of racial and cultural identity models and their implications for cross-cultural communication. Including discussion of cross-cultural interpersonal impasses and successes. Also, participants will have the opportunity to explore their own stages of racial-ethnic identity and discuss personal experiences. Led by Community Advising Network (CAN) counselors, from Counseling and Psychological Services. 12:10-1:30 p.m. Nov. 10, Mee Room, Memorial Union.

EXHIBITIONS

• Who We Are: Selections from the Chicana/o Studies Poster Workshop — Through Dec. 17, ArtLounge, second floor, Memorial Union.

This workshop, under the leadership of Carlos Jackson, assistant professor, sees the poster as a voice art form used by Chicanas/os and other people of color to point to the defects of social and political existence and the possibility of change, from the artists’ perspectives, according to the course description.

• Conversations About Race — Prepared by the General Library Committee on Diversity, this exhibition includes selections from the book project author's list of additional resources for further reading and books that reference her scholarship in the area of racial identity development. Through spring quarter, lobby, Shields Library. More information.

DISCUSSIONS

• Inter-Professional Brown Bag Lunch Book Club, based in the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing and the School of Medicine — The club plans to continue its discussion of Tatum’s book (Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race) at two more meetings, noon-1 p.m. today (Nov. 5) and Friday, Dec. 3, in 1222 Education Building on the Sacramento campus. (The Dec. 3 date is correct; previous posts gave an incorrect date.)

• Davis Faith and Social Justice Group — Second and fourth Thursdays through fall. Potluck dinner at 6 p.m., followed by book discussion at 6:30. For more information, including the location, contact Jill Van Zanten, jillvz@sbcglobal.net.

• Anti-Racism Task Team and Adult Religious Exploration Committee, Unitarian Universalist Church of Davis — 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 5, 27074 Patwin Road. For more information, contact Leanne Friedman, ljfriedman@ucdavis.edu.

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Beverly Daniel Tatum, author of this year's book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, is scheduled to visit the campus on Dec. 10, to participate in a free forum and to deliver a nighttime talk.

• Forum@MC — Identity Politics: Deconstructing Arizona's Immigration and Etnic Studies Laws, a panel discussion with Tatum; Kevin Johnson, dean of the law school; Miroslava Chavez-Garcia, associate professor, Chicana/o studies; and Kevin Williams, Davis High School. 4-5 p.m., Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.

• Author's address — Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race. 8 p.m., Jackson Hall.

•••

All events are open to the public, and all are free except for the author's nighttime talk. Tickets: (530) 754-2787 or (866) 754-2787, or mondaviarts.org.

More information, including the complete schedule.

Earlier coverage: “2010-11 theme examines racial identity, access to higher education” (Feb. 26, 2010)

Office of Campus Community Relations