A sweeping chronicle of Jewish life in the Tar Heel State from
colonial times to the present, this beautifully illustrated volume
incorporates oral histories, original historical documents, and
profiles of fascinating individuals. The first comprehensive social
history of its kind,
Down Home demonstrates that the story
of North Carolina Jews is attuned to the national story of
immigrant acculturation but has a southern twist.
Keeping in mind the larger southern, American, and Jewish contexts,
Leonard Rogoff considers how the North Carolina Jewish experience
differs from that of Jews in other southern states. He explores how
Jews very often settled in North Carolina's small towns, rather
than in its large cities, and he documents the reach and vitality
of Jewish North Carolinians' participation in building the New
South and the Sunbelt. Many North Carolina Jews were among those at
the forefront of a changing South, Rogoff argues, and their
experiences challenge stereotypes of a society that was agrarian
and Protestant.
More than 125 historic and contemporary photographs complement
Rogoff's engaging epic, providing a visual panorama of Jewish
social, cultural, economic, and religious life in North Carolina.
This volume is a treasure to share and to keep.
Published in association with the Jewish Heritage Foundation of
North Carolina,
Down Home is part of a larger documentary
project of the same name that will include a film and a traveling
museum exhibition, to be launched in June 2010.