(Jewish Group) 'Once We Were Slaves' examines fluidity of race through a Jewish lens

Have you heard the story of the Jewish mother and children who were born enslaved in the Caribbean and became some of the wealthiest Jews in New York?

Professor Laura Arnold Leibman was researching Jewish communities in Barbados when she discovered two small ivory portraits belonging to a Jewish heiress from New York. She traced the family’s ancestors back to Bridgetown, Barbados in the 1700s. But instead of discovering an exclusively Sephardic ancestry, she uncovered a much more complex story of a diverse Jewish family whose identities were impacted by time and place.

Her findings became the book, “Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multiracial Jewish Family.”

Leibman, a professor of English and Humanities at Reed College in Portland, Ore. will share her discoveries in a talk titled “Jews of Color in Early America.” This free virtual event is presented by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia, hosted and co-sponsored by the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum and the Atlanta Jews of Color Council, on Sunday, Jan. 30, at 2 p.m. EST.

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