The Southern Shmooze
September 2022
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In 1926, the city of Clarksdale, Mississippi, unknowingly scheduled school registration for the two days of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This didn't sit well with the Jews of Clarksdale, so they asked for and got an accommodation: Jewish children could register for school on Saturday, instead of the Thursday and Friday of Rosh Hashanah. |
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This accommodation, in a way, encapsulates well the Southern Jewish experience: Clarksdale's Jews stood up for their religious identity and the town acceded. But at the same time, there was an accommodation on the Jewish side, as well. Saturday is Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath. By the 1920s, most (but not all) of Clarksdale's Jews were Reform, keeping their stores open on Saturdays, the busiest shopping day of the week. This was a necessity in a region where Sunday Closing Laws were the norm.
The Southern Jewish experience has always been about adapting, accommodating, and conforming to new surroundings, while at the same time embracing, sustaining, and celebrating our history, culture, and religious practices. So, no matter how you celebrate, we wish you a happy and healthy New Year!
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From the Collection
Some Recent Acquisitions
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We’re so pleased to receive this iconic sign from Harry’s Ace Hardware Store, on Magazine St., in New Orleans. The business, started by Harry Offner in 1910, first served customers on Rampart St. before moving to Magazine in 1960. After 112 years, the business closed earlier this year. Gift of Joe Mann, Marsha Zander, and Carole Katz. |
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Cassette tape of original MSJE dedication program, 10/15/1989 at Henry S. Jacobs Camp, in Mississippi. Gift of Deborah Lamensdorf Jacobs. Now where did we put that tape player?
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Original photograph of the cast of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” staged by the Twin City Theater Guild, in Greenville, Mississippi, in 1959. The play served as the official opening of the guild’s new building. The cast included Jews and non-Jews, including Dave Davidow, as Otto Frank (center, wearing tallis) and Abe Freyman, as Mr. Dussel (third from right). Gift of Rabbi Fred Davidow (Dave Davidow’s son). |
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This Colt .41 revolver was given to Emanuel Mansberg in Galveston following the devastating 1900 Hurricane to protect his family from looters. Emanuel was deputized to be able to use the gun, but he never did. The newspaper story is a reproduction from The Corpus Christi Weekly Caller, September 14, 1900. Gift of Barbara Mansberg.
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A Historical Collaboration
Three museums to explore one painting
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We are currently displaying this reproduction of a double portrait of two men, possibly father and son, c. 1855; pastel on paper by Jules Lion (1810-1866). Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection.
In 2021, The Historic New Orleans Collection purchased this portrait at auction. The Collection reached out to the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience and the Museé de f.p.c. (Museum of Free People of Color) to join in an exploration of the portrait, its meaning in the context of New Orleans’s early 19th-century populations of free people of color and Jewish immigrants, and its relevance to us today.
When this portrait was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1976, the sitters were identified as prominent New Orleans Jewish merchant Asher Moses Nathan (1785–1864) and his son, Achille Léon Lion (1827–1916). The identification was made by curator and art historian Regenia A. Perry, who believed that the young Achille Lion—no relation to artist Jules Lion—had been born in Louisiana to a woman of color and to Nathan, a white man. Dr. Perry also accepted the then-prevalent belief that the portrait’s artist was himself a Louisiana-born man of color. Her interpretation elevated this portrait to a very important place in African American art history, as it appeared to be the only known antebellum portrait to show a white father openly and affectionately acknowledging his mixed-race son.
Subsequent research has raised the possibility that artist Jules Lion was a French-born Jewish man, though this conclusion is not universally accepted. Research into Achille Léon Lion, identified as the younger sitter, established that he was born in Paris and spent only a few years in Louisiana before returning to France in 1861. More research is needed to firmly establish the identities of these two men, but it certainly appears that the artist deliberately depicted the younger man with a darker skin tone. And prior to Perry’s identification, the sitters were consistently referred to as "Father and Son." Whatever their relationship and circumstances, the affection between the two men is unmistakable.
Stay tuned for some very engaging public programs exploring this portrait from all three museums!
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WHAT:
Jewish rockstar Dan Nichols at the MSJE! We’ll celebrate ten years since the release of his documentary Road to Eden: A Southern Sukkot Journey... and jam together!
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 12th for Youth, 4th-10th graders, 4:30pm–6:00pm;
and Thursday, October 13th for all ages, 5:30pm–7:30pm
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Stay tuned for reservation and ticket information! |
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Jews of the Wild West
Documentary Screening
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Mosey on down to MSJE for a screening of the new documentary "Jews of the Wild West." We will have two showings: Thursday, September 15, at 6:00pm Central, and Saturday, September 17, at 5:30pm Central. Following the screening on September 15, join us for a conversation with filmmaker Amanda Kinsey about the making of her intriguing documentary, and hear more about the unique contributions that Jewish Americans made to shaping the western United States.
WHAT: Jews of the Wild West documentary screening
WHEN: September 15, at 6:00pm Central; or September 17, at 5:30pm Central
WHERE: Mintz Family Theater at MSJE
COST: $10 for non-members, $5 for members
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Museum Store Item of the Month
Hut... Hut... Tyke!
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We're not promising that your favorite team will win the big game if your baby* is wearing a new black and gold "Shalom Y'all" Onesie, but we're not saying they won't. Win or lose, your baby will be ready to tailgate in a snap!
Get yours now in Museum Store or online. Available in 6 and 12 months sizing!
*Baby not included.
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The Museum Store is dedicated by Harold Wainer in memory of George & Helen Wainer and Harriet Wainer Kugler. |
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This Month in Southern Jewish History |
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GEORGIA: September 2, 1930
Max Nussbaum of Bainbridge gets some press in the Atlanta Constitution for his transatlantic radio call. Starting in 1927, the first transatlantic calls were conducted by radio signal. Only in 1956 was a telephone cable laid across the ocean to Europe. Nussbaum was instrumental in creating Miller Hydro Company, which manufactured and sold bottle washing machines internationally. He also served as mayor of Bainbridge, 1920-21.
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TENNESSEE: September 7, 1893
At the World's Fair in Chicago, members of the Jewish Women's Congress resolve to create the National Council of Jewish Women. In attendance was Lizzie Lee Bloomstein, of Nashville, one of several speakers to address the attendees. Bloomstein, already an American history professor, went on to become a university librarian, an active clubwoman, and a staunch suffragist.
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ARKANSAS: September 15, 1958
The Women's Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools holds its first meeting in response to Governor Orval Faubus's closing of the Little Rock public high schools rather than integrating them. Josephine Menkus, Jane Mendel, and many other Jewish women from the Little Rock gave their time and effort to the cause, which eventually proved successful.
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MISSISSIPPI: September 18, 1967
Congregation Beth Israel in Jackson is bombed by local Ku Klux Klan members, causing extensive damage. Two months later, the same group bombed Rabbi Perry Nussbaum’s home. Though the rabbi was home with his wife at the time, no one was seriously hurt. Nussbaum was a vocal supporter of integration and civil rights for African Americans.
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ALABAMA: September 20, 1912
Wiesel's Mercantile in Tuscaloosa lets its customers know that it will be closed for Yom Kippur. This ad says a lot about Jewish merchant life in the South. Wiesel normally kept his store open on Saturdays, the Jewish sabbath, but observed the High Holidays–and wasn't worried about letting his customers know.
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LOUISIANA: September 28, 1861
Samuel Weil and Henry Gerson of Monroe, representing Hebrew Congregation Manassas, paid the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas Railroad $231 for land to be used as the “Hebrew Burying Ground." The cemetery, still in use today, was ironically named “Beth Ha-Chaim” (House of Life).
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Let's start thinking about End-of-Year giving... |
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GIVE ONLINE
MAIL US A CHECK
to PO Box 15071, New Orleans, LA 70175
DONATE FROM YOUR IRA
required distribution
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DESIGNATE MSJE
as a recipient of your Donor Advised Fund
DONATE STOCK
or other marketable securities
INCLUDE MSJE
in your estate planning (we can help)
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Shalom. Make yourself at home.®
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Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience
818 Howard Avenue | New Orleans, LA 70113
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Banner images (l-r): Members of Congregation Beth Israel in Clarksdale, MS, c.1910. Collection of Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience; Blue Star campers, North Carolina, 2016. Courtesy of Blue Star Camps.
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