ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week’s trivia question: How did an antisemitic letter inspire a story in a superhero comic book?

Dr. Rafael Medoff is a professor of Jewish history and founding director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.    He is the author of over twenty books on the Holocaust and Jewish history. He also wrote the graphic novel, Whistleblowers, which tells the true stories of four heroes who risked their careers–or their lives–to expose the truth about the unfolding Holocaust in the 1930s and 40s. 

We recently spoke with him about the Wyman Institute, and Whistleblowers, and this week he is telling us about his new book, Cartoonists Against Racism. Co-authored with Craig Yoe, it describes a project that tackled the problem in a very unique and imaginative way in the 40s and 50s.  The book gives us the history behind the project and then an introduction to ten cartoonists and examples of their work.  It also includes an index, which is very helpful for those interested in the historical figures and organizations that were in some way related to the subject.