The Jewish South - by Shari Rabin (Hardcover)

About the Book

"In 1669, the Carolina colony issued the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which offered freedom of worship to 'Jews, heathens, and other dissenters,' ushering in an era that would see Jews settle in cities and towns throughout what would become the Confederate States. The Jewish South tells their stories, and those of their descendants and coreligionists who followed, providing the first narrative history of southern Jews"

Book Synopsis

A panoramic history of the Jewish American South, from European colonization to today

In 1669, the Carolina colony issued the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, which offered freedom of worship to "Jews, heathens, and other dissenters," ushering in an era that would see Jews settle in cities and towns throughout what would become the Confederate States. The Jewish South tells their stories, and those of their descendants and coreligionists who followed, providing the first narrative history of southern Jews.

Drawing on a wealth of original archival findings spanning three centuries, Shari Rabin sheds new light on the complicated decisions that southern Jews made--as individuals, families, and communities--to fit into a society built on Native land and enslaved labor and to maintain forms of Jewish difference, often through religious innovation and adaptation. She paints a richly textured and sometimes troubling portrait of the period, exploring how southern Jews have been targets of antisemitism and violence but also complicit in racial injustice. Rabin considers Jewish immigration and institution building, participation in the Civil War, the 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, and Jewish support for and resistance to the modern fight for Black civil rights. She examines shifting understandings of Jewishness, highlighting both the reality of religious diversity and the ongoing role of Christianity in defining the region.

Recovering a neglected facet of the American experience, The Jewish South enables readers to see the South through the eyes of people with a distinctive religious heritage and a southern history older than the United States itself.

Review Quotes

"Incisively researched and filled with surprising connections, the book offers a reimagined map of American Jewish history. . . . The Jewish South is a compelling decentralization of the American Jewish story, revealing that the South, too, has always been a Jewish place."---Etan Nechin, Haaretz

"Comprehensive. . . . The Jew­ish South is a com­pelling nar­ra­tive of the com­plex rela­tion­ship between South­ern Jews and the region they called home."---Martin Green, Jewish Book Council

"Crucial."---Rien Fertel, New Orleans Advocate

"[An] engaging study. . . . [Rabin's] deep archival research reveals how Jews participated in and were shaped by a dominant culture in which their status could be uncertain. . . . A rich account of how the Jewish minority claimed its place in Southern culture even as it retained its identity."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

About the Author

Shari Rabin is associate professor of Jewish studies and religion at Oberlin College. She is the author of Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-Century America, winner of a National Jewish Book Award.