A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life

A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life by McKissick Museum. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781570034459.

An enduring interpretation, in text and illsutrations, of Jewish life and culture in the American South In the year 1800, South Carolina was home to more Jews than any other place in North America. As old as the province of Carolina itself, the Jewish presence has been a vital but little-examined element in the growth of South Carolinas cities and towns, in the economy of slavery and post-slavery society, and in the creation of American Jewish religious identity. Just as the Jews in the South tested American freedoms, liberty and tolerance tried the newcomers adherence to their ancient religion. A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life is a remarkable collection of art and cultural objects and represents a provocative investigation of the chracters and circumstances that produced them. One hundred sixty color and black-and-white images, with more than eighty objects from the exhibition of the same name, are included, with narrative descriptions placing each object in its historical and artistic contexts. Portraits of Jewish citizens prominent in the regions history appear side by side with artifacts that tell stories ofimmgration and settlement, adaption, and alienation, and success and failure. A photographic essay by Bill Aron, who has documented Jewish communities around the world, brings the story to the turn of the twenty-first century. The record of a dynamic faith in a turbulent world, A Portion of the People takes readers on a powerful journey through three hundred years of southern arts and letters.