Touro Synagogue Foundation Talk to Address Jews & Slavery in Early Newport
Touro Synagogue Foundation announces the first program of its Winter 2022 Judah Touro Program Series, which will delve into the difficult topic of Jews and slavery in the Atlantic World of the American colonial era.
Guest speaker and distinguished scholar Dr. Paul Finkelman will present a talk titled “Jews, Slavery, and the Meaning of Freedom” on Thursday, December 15, at 6:00 p.m., virtually via Zoom. There is no fee to participate, but reservations are required to receive the Zoom login information.
In a terrible irony, the history of Newport, which was founded upon the principles of religious freedom, is also the history of those who did not find freedom there — enslaved Africans. Many Newporters, including Jews, either owned slaves or participated in some aspect of the trans-Atlantic plantation system, which was based on the slave trade and goods produced through the labor of enslaved Africans. Dr. Finkelman’s talk will address this central paradox of America— the coexistence of slavery and freedom, along with an intermingling of noble ideals about liberty with the poison of racism. His talk will address these issues in a way that will help participants understand them clearly and honestly.
To reserve for the presentation, please visit the “Program & Events” page at tourosynagogue.org, or use the Event Website link on this page.
SPEAKER BIO:
Dr. Paul Finkelman is one of America’s most respected legal scholars and has published extensively on the history of slavery and on Jews in America. He currently holds the Rydell Visiting Chair at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota. Dr. Finkelman received his B.A. in American Studies from Syracuse University and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. He is the author of more than two hundred scholarly articles and the author or editor of more than fifty books. His most recent major book, Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court, was published by Harvard University Press in 2018. Dr. Finkelman has spoken on slavery, human trafficking, civil liberties, and human rights issues at the United Nations, throughout the United States, and in more than a dozen other countries.
UPCOMING JUDAH TOURO SERIES EVENTS:
The Foundation also announces the next three presentations in this virtual program series. Details and links to reserve to come.
-January 12, 2023 at noon. Prof. Pieter Vlaardingerbroek, live from Amsterdam, will present a talk titled,“The Architecture of the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam.”
-February 9, 2023 at 6:00 p.m., Samantha Baskind, a distinguished professor of art and history at Cleveland State University, will give an illustrated talk titled, “Picturing Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam (1675).”
-March 30, 2023 at noon. The series closes with a special collaborative presentation hosted by the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, “Local Collections in Conversations,” featuring Touro Synagogue’s Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) and its Great Chandelier, and comparative objects from the collection of the RISD Museum. Presenters will include Howard Newman, a nationally respected Newport artist and conservator, who restored both these objects.
847-4794 ext. 207,
or
meryle@tourosynagogu
e.org
