Introduction

"Lives of Quiet Affirmation: An Alabama Jewish Community" is a photographic exhibition designed to celebrate, preserve, and interpret the traditions and lives of the Jews in Calhoun County. The Anniston Star, the daily newspaper of the area, wrote of this exhibit, "A faded old black and white photo gives us fine details that the written word often fails to capture. It replaces the imagined and sometimes flawed image in our mind with an authentic one. There is no better way of chronicling a period of history than displaying photographs of that era." (April 23, 1999)

The Jewish community profiled in this project is similar to other small Jewish Settlements across the South: the immigration of early German families, establishment of a formal religious community, and the continuation of a Jewish way of life. Unfortunately, because of the advanced age of many of the residents and a lack of younger Jewish families moving into the area, many small Jewish communities across the South are disappearing. Yet, in Anniston (the geographical home of Temple Beth El, the religious center of this Jewish community), a Jewish way of life continues.

The exhibit, organized into faces, places and passages, contains 136 historical and modern photographs. More than three dozen are part of the Russell Brothers Collection, a restored group of glass plates of historical photos taken by the Russell Brothers who photographed Anniston in the late 19th and early 20th century. The exhibit's earliest photograph, circa 1885, is one of Ullman Brothers Department Store; Leon Ullman moved to Anniston in 1884 with his brothers and opened the first dry goods store in the town. The exhibit captures the passages in a Jew's life: from the proud family gathering to welcome a new baby, to the celebration of a Bar Mitzvah with the delighted father looking on, to the wedding portraits of demure brides. "Faces" profiles the people: Alfred Caro who escaped the horrors of a concentration camp to become one of Anniston's gifted chefs, Miss Dorothy Sterne who donated more than $35,000 in 1969 to found a day-care center for the children of welfare parents, Joseph Saks whom the Saks community honors with his name, and Nathan Springer, a prominent optometrist, who began his career selling glasses from a horse and buggy in Atlanta. One can see their faces and read their stories. "Places" shows many of Anniston's businesses owned by the early Jewish merchants (and also a growing and changing Alabama city) as well as Temple Beth El over its 107 year history.

Venues are being sought for this tribute to a Jewish way of life. Please see "sample exhibit" to view some of the photos. If your institution would like to display this traveling exhibit, please read the "contact" page for further information.