Waubonsee Community College

Land of promise, the Jews of South Carolina, produced by Big Pictures for the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Land of promise

electronic resource

747796991

produced by Big Pictures for the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina

57

the Jews of South Carolina

Land of Promise is a fascinating, richly illustrated documentary that explores the Jewish experience in South Carolina from colonial days to modern times. It is a heartwarming story of religious tolerance, economic and political opportunity By 1800, Charleston was home to the largest and wealthiest Jewish community in North America. The settling of Jews in South Carolina mirrors the Jewish immigration to the United States with Sephardic Jews in the 17th century being followed by German Jews, then Eastern Jews and Russian Jews today.The film relates many surprising firsts. For example: the first Jew in the western world, (not merely in the U.S.) to be elected to a popular assembly was a South Carolinian, Francis Salvador, in 1774 . He was also the first Jew to have died in the Revolutionary War. The first reform temple in America was built in Charleston in 1841. The first Jewish Secretary of State in the U.S. was not Henry Kissinger but Judah Benjamin during the Confederacy.With archival material, photographs and paintings, the film touches on all aspects of Southern Jewish life -- their involvement with slavery, the Civil War and civil rights, the prospering of the cities after Reconstruction and their transition from family businesses into the professions. It addresses the challenges Jews face in maintaining their cultural identity as they integrate into the broader Southern communities where they live

general