A Portion of the People

A fresh interpretation, in text and illustrations, 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 Carolina's cities and towns, in the economy of slavery and post-slavery society, and in the creation of American Jewish religious identity.

The record of a landmark exhibition that will change the way people think about Jewish history and American history, A Portion of the People: Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life presents a remarkable group of art and cultural objects and a provocative investigation of the characters and circumstances that produced them. The book and exhibition culminate a seven-year collaboration by the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, the McKissick Museum of the University of South Carolina, and the College of Charleston.

Edited by Theodore Rosengarten and Dale Rosengarten, with original essays by Deborah Dash Moore, Jenna Weissman Joselit, Jack Bass, and Dale Rosengarten, with a preface by Eli N. Evans, A Portion of the People is an important addition to southern arts and letters. Half the exhibition's 200 objects appear here in color and black-and-white illustrations. Narrative descriptions place the objects in their historical and artistic contexts. Portraits of Jewish citizens prominent in the region's history appear side by side with artifacts that tell of immigration and settlement, adaptation and alienation, success and failure. Just as the Jews in the South tested American freedoms, liberty and tolerance tried the newcomers' adherence to their ancient religion.

A photographic essay by Bill Aron, who has documented Jewish communities around the world, brings the story into the present. His South Carolina photographs reflect major developments of the past fifty years, including the legacy of the Holocaust, postwar prosperity, the challenge of the civil rights movement, and the trend toward increasing religious observance.