During the 1930’s Jewish illustrators and artists were struggling to find work due to Anti-Semitism, in order to make some income and make ends meet, they created superheroes. Those who could rise above the regular humans and fight against the darkness, and evil. Superman in particular, had an enormous impact in American propaganda during World War II and was frequently shown on the cover of comic books, beating up Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini. Superman forced these villains to face the consequences of their terrible actions. In this episode, I discuss the comic book cultural revolution that was created directly from the rejection and pain that these Jewish artists faced every day during the early parts of the 20th century.

Thanks to Mike Meyers for the theme music, you can follow him on X @themikeshow42.

Away, Meydän, Free Music Archive, CC BY, https://tinyurl.com/awaymeydan

#notyourhistoryclass #history #wwII #fascism #comicbooks #antisemitism #jewish #captainamericabravenewworld #captainamerica #superman #batman #spiderman #thexmen #fantasticfour #stanlee #marvel #dccomics #racism #civilrights #holocaust #jewishhistory #judaism #kingdavid #davidandgoliath #moses

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Sources

https://jewishunpacked.com/how-jewish-creators-shaped-the-comic-book-industry

https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Hebrew-prophet

https://www.dc.com/blog/2023/04/18/the-evolution-of-superman-s-origin

https://www.britannica.com/biography/David

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/26/tennessee-school-board-bans-holocaust-comic-maus-by-art-spiegelman.html

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-in-comic-books/

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/exploring-hate/2023/08/23/salvation-and-alliance/

https://www.oakland.edu/Assets/Oakland/religiousstudies/files-and-documents/faculty-research/Klein,%20Rabbi%20Joe%20-%20Superheroes%20Lecture%20March%208,%202016.pdf

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2018/08/16/when-comics-took-on-the-holocaust/

https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/question/2009/july.htm

https://ufdc.ufl.edu/collections/wpa

https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/ku-klux-klan

https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws

https://jimcrowmuseum.ferris.edu/what.htm

https://www.newsweek.com/stan-lee-quotes-legendary-comic-book-creator-dies-1212430