Stephen Harlan Norwood (January 20, 1951 – 2023) was an American historian who was professor of history at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

from 1987 to 2023.

Education

Norwood received his B.A. at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, United States, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as Talloires, France. Tufts also has several Doctor of Physical Therapy p ...

in 1972, M.A. at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1975, and Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1984. His doctoral dissertation was ''The making of the trade union woman: work, culture, and organization of telephone operators, 1878-1923''.

Career

From 1984 to 1987, Norwood was an instructor at

Memphis State University The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

. Norwood then joined the

as assistant professor of history in 1987. He was promoted to associate professor in 1991 and full professor in 2002. Norwood's 2009 book '' The Third Reich in the Ivory Tower: Complicity and Conflict on American Campuses'', drew attention even before publication. According to Norwood, "Harvard was involved in active steps that helped legitimate the Nazi regime in the West", and was "indifferent to the prosecution of German Jews and indeed on numerous occasions assisted the Nazis in their efforts to gain acceptance in the West", welcoming one of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's closest deputies to a reunion, hosting a reception for German naval officials and sending delegates to a celebration at a German university that had expelled Jews, while failing to condemn the policies of Hitler's regime. Norwood's most recent book is ''Antisemitism and the American Far Left''. This is the first systematic study of the American far-left's role in both promoting and combating

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. The book covers both the

Old Left The Old Left is an informal umbrella term used to describe the various left-wing political movements in the Western world prior to the 1960s. Many of these movements were Marxist movements that often took a more vanguardist approach to social ...

and

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

, including the latter's

black nationalist Black nationalism is a nationalist movement which seeks representation for Black people as a distinct national identity, especially in racialized, colonial and postcolonial societies. Its earliest proponents saw it as a way to advocate for ...

allies. It also examines antisemitism in the contemporary far-left, including its relationships with Islamists.

Personal life

Norwood was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 1951; he was

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

. His parents were economists; his mother Janet Lippe Norwood was commissioner of the

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the government of the United States, U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics, labor economics and ...

from 1979 to 1991. His paternal grandmother

Rose Finkelstein Norwood Rose Finkelstein Norwood (September 10, 1890 – September 25, 1980) was an American labor organizer. During her long career she led labor campaigns for telephone operators, garment and jewelry workers, boiler makers, library staffers, teachers, ...

, who was born to a

family in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(in modern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

) in 1889, was a labor activist and founder of the Boston Telephone Operators Union. In 1975, Stephen Norwood married Eunice Pollack. Norwood died in 2023.

Books

* * * * * * *

Awards

* Herbert G. Gutman Award in American Social History, 1990 * SABR/Macmillan Award * Finalist, National Jewish Book Award for Holocaust Studies, 2009

References

External links

''Voices on Antisemitism'' Interview with Stephen H. Norwood
from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Norwood, Stephen H. 1951 births 2023 deaths Date of death missing University of Oklahoma faculty American historians of the Holocaust Columbia University alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers American Zionists Jewish American historians Academics from Washington, D.C. Tufts University alumni University of Memphis faculty American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent