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.
Why did you choose the title “The Jewish South”?
Shari Rabin: I have always been fascinated by old newspapers, and in in the late nineteenth century, there were two different newspapers with the title The Jewish South. These publications built on and reinforced the sense that there was a distinct public, community, and network of Jewish people in the South who had something in common. The gradual emergence of this southern Jewish identity is an important facet of the book. I also hope that the title invites readers to think about the South as a region from the perspective of its Jewish residents, who were always a tiny minority, but a distinctive and influential one.
When does your history of the Jewish South begin and end?
SR: While the book gestures back to 1492 and forward to the present day, the bulk of it focuses on period from 1669 to 1967. It begins with Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina, a fascinating document co-written by a young John Locke that includes the provocative offer of freedom of worship for “Jews, heathens, and other Dissenters.” This document imagined Jewish people as a presence in the Carolina colony from the beginning, although it expressed some ambivalence about whether to classify them as non-white “heathens” or as white “Dissenters.” The book ends in the 1967, when the synagogue and the rabbi’s home in Jackson, Mississippi, were bombed by white supremacists. These were shocking acts of violence because of how established and integrated southern Jews were (Jackson’s synagogue predates the Civil War). They pointed to the ongoing instability of southern Jews’ status in relationship to their white Christian neighbors, a theme that reappeared in 2017 during the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, an incident which I discuss briefly in the epilogue.
Why are Jews important to understanding the South?
SR: Jews are a small group, but they have a long history in the region as a group that contributed to its development but deviated from its religious norms, in term of belief, but also by maintaining collective ties and a relationship to religious law. Jews’ experiences of shifting inclusion and exclusion highlight the role of Protestant Christianity—as well as whiteness—in shaping the region. At the same time, Jews help highlight aspects of the South that are often underappreciated—its cities, its transnational connections, its multilingualism, and its religious diversity.
What do you consider “the South”?
SR: There are many ways to answer this question, and debates about whether there even is a South at all! Some argue that it is only a figment of our collective imaginations. I included the ten states that seceded to become part of the Confederate States of America. The relationship between Jews and the governments they live under is an important theme throughout the book, and so to me it is notable that these states were once part of their own nation. I do not, however, think that the South is hermetically sealed and absolutely different from the rest of the United States. It has a strong sense of identity, and some distinctive features, but ultimately, the South’s history is also—as the book’s subtitle suggests—an American history.
What is your own relationship to the South?
SR: As I describe in the prologue, I moved to Marietta, Georgia, from the Midwest when I was thirteen, and spent my high school years there. My mom still lives in the Atlanta area, so I go back to visit her regularly. In 2015, after a decade in the northeast, I moved to South Carolina for my first academic job, at the College of Charleston. I am not a born southerner, but I have lived and traveled in and out of the region for twenty-five years, which I like to think has given me some of the benefits of both an insider’s and an outsider’s perspective.
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.