R2 Studios and The Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM) are excited to announce that Jeanette Patrick, John Turner, and Lincoln Mullen have been awarded $50,000 from the Henry Luce Foundation to begin work on a podcast exploring the history of American antisemitism.
RRCHNM’s R2 Studios, led by Patrick, will produce the project, which will be written by Turner and Mullen, both historians of American religion. Zev Eleff, president of Gratz College and a leading historian of American Judaism, is collaborating with the RRCHNM team on this project.
In episodes that take listeners from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century, the team will unpack instances or aspects of antisemitism in U.S. history through narration, primary sources, and expert interviews. These stories will discuss what antisemitism is and how it developed and persisted alongside other forms of bigotry and hatred in the United States. Each episode will relate to the project’s broad themes: that antisemitism is a deep-rooted American problem, that it spans the political and religious spectrum of the United States, that it is intertwined with the history of race in America, and that knowledge and understanding of the history of American antisemitism makes it easier to identify and oppose it in the present.
“This is an important and timely subject,” commented Ann Ardis, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Mason. “In the face of rising antisemitic hate crimes, it is essential that we understand the historical roots of this contemporary challenge. RRCHNM excels at combining first-rate scholarship with its passion for making history accessible to the public.”
This podcast will be the third narrative podcast produced by R2 Studios, and the first podcast to focus on questions of social justice and Jewish history in America. The podcast will join R2’s existing lineup of narrative podcasts, including an environmental history podcast about the Appalachian Trail, called The Green Tunnel, and a world history podcast about the American diplomatic service entitled Consolation Prize.
“R2 Studios is grateful for the support of the Henry Luce Foundation,” said Jeanette Patrick, Head of R2 Studios. “This grant will allow us to fulfill our mission to make engaging, deeply researched history podcasts for people who enjoy exploring stories from the past.”
Like all podcasts produced by R2 Studios, episodes will be released across all major podcast distribution platforms and available for free to anyone who would like to listen and learn about the history of American antisemitism from historians.
For continued updates on the project, visit R2Studios.org and follow R2 Studios on Twitter @r2podstudios.
The Henry Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, cultivating new leaders, and fostering international understanding. Established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time, Inc., the Luce Foundation advances its mission through grantmaking and leadership programs in the fields of Asia, higher education, religion and theology, art, and public policy.
