The Southern Institute for Education and Research was non-profit tolerance education center based at Tulane University from 1993-2015. The Institute evolved out of the Louisiana Coalition against Racism and Nazism, the multi-racial, multi-religious group that led the opposition to neo-Nazi and former Klansman David Duke during his gubernatorial bid in 1991. The Institute was founded in 1993 by Dr. Lance Hill and Dr. Lawrence Powell who were assisted in locating at Tulane through the help of Saul Mintz, Fletcher Thorne-Thompson, and Eamon Kelly, president of Tulane University at the time.

Over a period of 22 years, the Institute provided training in teaching the history of the Holocaust and the African America Civil Rights movement to thousands of teachers in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.  Apart from Tolerance Education, the Institute offered a full range of inter-racial dialogues programs and intercultural communication workshops for colleges, community groups, and city agencies.

This site provides the teaching and training resources the Institute developed over the years. All the materials may be replicated for free by contacting the Southern Institute Archive at so-inst@tulane.edu

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Executive  Board

Dr. Emmett Bashful
Chancellor Emeritus, Southern University of New Orleans

Buddy Jacobs

Justin Garon, New Orleans

Jean Mintz, Monroe, Lousiana

Sybil Haydel Morial
Associate Vice-President
Xavier University of Louisiana

Lawrence N. Powell, Ph.D.
History Department
Tulane University

Norman Robinson
WDSU-TV, New Orleans

Paul S. Rosenblum, New Orleans

Fletcher Thorne-Thomsen
Board of Trustees
Centenary College, Shreveport, Louisiana

Rabbi David Goldstein, New Orleans

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Program Staff

• Lance Hill, Ph.D., Executive Director
• Plater Robinson, Education Director
• Carrie Fleider, Program Director
• Meredith Bethune, Program Coordinator

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History of Programs and Publications

Based at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Southern Institute was a non-profit race relations center dedicated to improving ethnic relations in the Deep South through tolerance education and communications training. Founded in 1993, the Southern Institute's programs help young people understand the causes and consequences of prejudice by examining the past. For the adult community, the Southern Institute offers a highly acclaimed cross-cultural communication workshop that enables participants to understand and work effectively with people from different cultures.

At the heart of the Southern Institute's work was the conviction that history compels us to speak out against racism in all forms, or pay dearly for our indifference. In the area of tolerance and Holocaust education alone, the Southern Institute has provided training to more than 3,600 teachers from 800 schools in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. These teachers reach more than one million students annually.

TOLERANCE AND HOLOCAUST EDUCATION

History can illuminate the tragic consequences of prejudice and the moral imperative to speak out against the suffering of others. The Southern Institute used case studies of the Holocaust and the Civil Rights movement to help young people understand the moral and ethical decisions that they may make someday. Training and speaking services are available only in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Florida. Free resources include:

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION WORKSHOPS

or middle and high school teachers that address the psychology of altruism, moral indifference, the history of racism and anti-Semitism, and how to apply these insights to the world today. In addition, the Southern Institute offered the Goldring Summer Workshop, a three-day Holocaust education seminar for advanced teachers.

CIVIL RIGHTS EDUCATION WORKSHOPS

trained teachers how to use oral histories of inspiring unsung heroes of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Katrina Research Project on Equity (KRPE)

The Katrina Research Project on Equity (KRPE) is a clearinghouse and network for research on the role of race and class in the Post-Katrina recovery process in the Gulf Coast and in displaced communities. KRPE facilitates communication and collaboration among researchers, volunteers, and community groups interested in research on race and class disparities in reconstruction programs. Our goal is to encourage community-directed research that promotes a just and equitable society.

COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING MATERIALS

including teaching guides tailored to each workshop and oral histories of Holocaust survivors and veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.

SPEAKERS BUREAU

featured speakers who were witnesses to the Holocaust and the Civil Rights Movement.

DOCUMENTARY SERIES ON HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS IN NEW ORLEANS

This was a ten-part televised series of interviews with survivors in New Orleans who have spoken to thousands of teachers and students over the years. The programs, which come with teaching guides, can be copied for free on this website. Teachers who have met the survivors can use the videos to bring to life for future generations these witnesses to history.

RACE RELATIONS COMMUNICATION TRAINING AND RESEARCH

People, even with the best intentions, often do not understand and communicate effectively with those from different cultural backgrounds. The Southern Institute has developed a highly acclaimed cross-cultural communication workshop that helps leaders in business, community life, and faith and grassroot organizations to resolve cultural conflicts and communicate and work more effectively in multicultural settings. Services include:

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION WORKSHOPS

Titled “TIES (Teams for Inter-Ethnic Solutions)”, this one-day workshop taught advanced communication skills based on successful models used in international training. The emphasis was on learning practical skills to improve communication among whites, African Americans, Latinos, and Asians. Past participants include law enforcement agencies, Chambers of Commerce, and community and faith organizations.

SCHOOL COLORS- CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING FOR SCHOOLS

A customized workshop designed to increase the capacity of educators to teach students from differing backgrounds.

CULTURAL COMPETENCY RESEARCH

The Southern Institute lead an initiative to develop evaluation methods that help organizations select effective diversity and cross-cultural programs. The project will result in a free, web-based "Consumers Guide" for selecting cross-cultural training services. The goal was to develop standards that require trainers to prove that their training results in positive and measurable skills for improving inter-ethnic relations.

HOW was OUR TOLERANCE EDUCATION DIFFERENT?

Many organizations share the Southern Institute's goals, but none has been as successful in reaching communities in racist strongholds in the South. The key to the Institute's strategy was understanding how schools can be moved to address the subjects of prejudice and tolerance. If we want to change the way young people think, we have to change the way they are taught. We have to do more than occasionally send a teacher a video or teaching guide, or offer them a one-time workshop. It takes consistent, long-term personal attention. It means that we have to inspire and motivate teachers. And there was no greater inspiration to confront evil than the personal stories of Holocaust survivors and veterans of the Civil Rights Movement.

The Institute provided year-round support for teachers and has arranged hundreds of presentations by survivors and civil rights leaders. The target audiences were communities that are bedeviled by racial bigotry; we do not want to preach to the choir. The results speak for themselves. Since its inception, the Southern Institute provided tolerance and Holocaust education training to more than 3,600 teachers from 800 schools in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. These teachers reach more than one million students annually.

Simply put, the Southern Institute goes where other organizations have never gone, and brings the past to life where it has long since been forgotten.