Past Events

The Charleston Jewish Filmfest, the Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston, and the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture present
A FREE film screening and discussion of the acclaimed jazz documentary Body and Soul: An American Bridge, the Black-Jewish History of an American Song
• BODY AND SOUL will be available for screening between Monday, October 12 and Thursday, October 15, 2020.
• DISCUSSION of the film and the history of jazz in Charleston with Dr. Karen Chandler and Charlton Singleton takes place on Thursday, October 15, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.

Award-winning scholar Dr. Shari Rabin, formerly assistant professor in the College of Charleston’s Jewish Studies Program and Director of the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture, returns for a discussion about southern history with Dr. Adam Domby, Assistant Professor of History, in light of current events. Registration link here. Facebook link here.

In Wandering Dixie: Dispatches from the Lost Jewish South, Sue Eisenfeld uncovers how the history of Jewish southerners converges with her personal story and the region's conflicted present. Join the author and moderators Dale Rosengarten and Rachel Barnett as they discuss the unexpected ways that race, religion, and hidden histories intertwine. Registration link here. Facebook link here.

Join historian Marni Davis (Georgia State University) and author Harlan Greene (College of Charleston) as they discuss their digital map making projects in Atlanta, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. These modern digital maps reveal the hidden histories of the cities they chart.

Please join us for a book talk with former state congressman, CNN political analyst, and author Bakari Sellers. Seller’s recent memoir, My Vanishing Country (2020), tells a story of two generations. He traces his father’s rise to become a civil rights hero, as well as his own childhood growing up in Denmark, South Carolina. In his book, he addresses the plight of the South's dwindling rural, black working-class, many of whom can trace their ancestry back seven generations. My Vanishing Country: A Memoir is Seller’s first book and has received critical acclaim. 

Film: Shared Legacies revisits the coalition and friendship between the Jewish and African-American communities during the1960s Civil Rights Movement. Pivotal events come alive through a treasure trove of archival materials narrated by eyewitnesses, activists, and leaders of the movement.

Join University of California, Davis Professor Bruce D. Haynes for a look into the diverse origins of Jews of African descent in the United States. Dr. Haynes’s most recent book explores the full diversity of Black Jews, including bi-racial Jews of both matrilineal and patrilineal descent; adoptees; black converts to Judaism; and Black Hebrews and Israelites, who trace their Jewish roots to Africa. In doing so, he challenges the dominant western paradigm of Jews as white and of European descent, and offers insights into how Black Jewish individuals strive to assert their dual identities and find acceptance within their respective communities.

Join Dr. Laura Arnold Leibman (Reed College) to discuss her most recent book, "Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multiracial Jewish Family.” Dr. Leibman  follows Blanche Moses, a descendant of one of the most prominent Jewish families since the American Revolution, as she researches her family history. During the course of her investigation, Moses discovers her grandmother and great-uncle were not always the wealthy, free, white Sephardic Jews she believed, but were born as poor Christian slaves in Barbados. "Once We Were Slaves" brings to life the largely forgotten population of mixed African and Jewish ancestry and illuminates the fluidity of race, as well as the role of religion in determining racial identities in early nineteenth-century America.

In the midst of renewed attention to gun violence in America, Rabbi Tamar Manasseh and filmmaker Brad Rothschild discuss their moving documentary “They Ain’t Ready for Me.” This film tells the story of Rabbi Manasseh's fight against senseless killings on the South Side of Chicago. For years,  she has sat on a street corner barbecuing, playing music and bringing games for kids to play with. Manasseh and the organization she founded, Mothers and Men Against Senseless Killings (MASK) are proving that something can be done and that the situation is not hopeless. With just her presence on the block, she is making forgotten members of the neighborhood believe that there are people who care whether they live or die.

Manasseh's unique background and upbringing give her a perspective that few people can claim. Both “authentically Jewish and authentically Black”, she brings an understanding of both communities, even as she struggles for acceptance in the Jewish world. Join us for a conversation with Manasseh and Rothschild about the challenges and motivations of this fearless community leader as she works to prevent more people from being killed by gun violence.

See the trailer here.

The in-person event will take place in the Jewish Studies Center, Arnold Hall (Room 100) and via Zoom. Registration Link