Tri-Co Philly: City of Brotherly Love: Images of a Changing City

GERM H210 | Monday 12–3 p.m.
Imke Brust, Haverford College

Generally, the course will engage with the history of Philadelphia as an immigrant city and look at the ways in which the different neighborhoods have changed over time. More specifically, it will highlight aspects of Philadelphia’s early German-speaking community, which made up about 45% of the city’s total residents in 1760 and about 33% in 1800 (Minardi). For example, Germantown, Brewerytown, and Olney were at some point primarily German-speaking neighborhoods, which then became primarily African-American, and in the case of Olney, Asian-American. Our analysis would scrutinize how the city demographically and visually transformed by looking at different maps, images, paintings etc. Furthermore, the course would also explore what attracted the various populations to the city at different historic times. In collaboration with HIAS, StoriesthatLive and Puentes de Salud, we would study how European Jews and Latin-Americans found refuge in the city of brotherly love. Initially, the Pennsylvania German Society of Philadelphia was also created in 1764, to help German speaking immigrants in need. Students will create a short film project about a person, who chose to immigrate to and found home in Philadelphia. Moreover, the course would touch on how the different populations perceived each other at different historic moments. For example, German speaking people often took on a mediating role between Native Americans and Anglo-Saxons in the early years of the United States. Our course materials would consist of a mix of biographical, historical, literary and art material. The course, which will be taught in English, is open to both German and non-German speakers. There will be an extra session in German for students taking it for German credit. This class will be taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program.