[rktman]

Um, I could be wrong, but, isn’t using the word “cotton” and “south” in the same line of thought considered racist now? Sure wouldn’t want to offend anybody. Hehehehehe.

[Tax-chick]

Good story, excellent pictures.

[Mike Darancette]

Why does it require a foreign publication to do such a respectful and touching article on a disappearing part of America?

[Black Agnes]

Ping.

[RedStateRocker]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[FAA]

I was all over Mississippi, Alabama, and, Georgia for years and don’t recall seeing any cotton being grown more than a couple or three times. Could be I just wasn’t in the right places but I didn’t see near as much as I expected to see. There use to be a LOT of cotton grown in West Texas but these days so much of that farm land is dormant as well.

[Chode]

now that's funny...

[RegulatorCountry]

This is real, unvarnished history. I've always been amazed at how thoroughly the stereotype of Jew-hating southerner has stuck when it's so far removed from reality. I never heard an anti-semitic statement out of a soul until I went to college, and even then it was from New Yorkers and Floridians. Some of the oldest synagogues in the country are in the south. Every older city has a native Jewish community, even towns have or had synagogues. That's fading as the small-town south fades due solely to trade policy. The cotton merchants, the textile manufacturing, it's been decimated, and along with it the main street apparel stores, jewelry stores and the like that were often owned and operated by Jewish families of long standing. Judah Benjamin was Secretary Of State for the Confederacy, for crying out loud. People are so ignorant regarding history, they'll believe anything and make pariahs of anyone they're told.

[Yaelle]

Wow, sad.

There seems to be a thriving Jewish community in some southern cities, at least, like charleston.

[Nifster]

What the writer is lamenting is the loss of small town America not a particular region (though that’s all he can see). People get tired of the ‘big city’ way of life and eventually move back to small town America. This is not unique to Jewish communities. It is true for all communities.

The point he makes about the loss of small towns is touching

[Albion Wilde]

Ping: Beautifully done story and photos about fading Jewish communities in the South.

[sgtyork]

Isn’t it sad that these communities haven’t reproduced enough to just sustain themselves? Is there something self-destructive in modern Judaism?

[glorgau]

Driving Miss Daisy.

[SonnyBubba]

Lehman Brothers,the infamous investment bank was started in Montgomery Alabama as cotton merchants.

[Piranha]

There was a discussion about Jews in the Confederacy on Free Republic three years ago: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2564326/posts

[wizkid]

The story reminded me of growing up in Galveston, Texas, on the Gulf. Even though we were Catholic, my mother sent me to the Jewish Temple Academy because it had the best kindergarten:

Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities

B’nai Israel continued to be influenced by Rabbi Henry Cohen, even after he passed away in 1952. His vision of social justice undoubtedly inspired the congregation’s leadership to open the “Temple Academy” in 1957. At a time when Galveston was still racially segregated and there was no public kindergarten for blacks, the temple’s pre-school and kindergarten accepted students of all races.

Even though people are taught that everyone was a bunch of bigots in the 50's and 60's, this is not an accurate picture. Just like it was not unusual for a Catholic to attend a Jewish kindergarten (if it was the best school), I remember many Jewish kids attending my Jesuit high school because it was the best.

Sadly, the Jewish community has mostly died out on Galveston.

It really was a special time, a time when a you knew everyone by name from the postman, to the guy that owned and ran the service station, to the fishermen who sold you seafood straight off the docks. I even remember riding my bike down to the local park every year to watch the circus set up its tents, all about age of five without my parents having to worry about me.

Call me a dope but this song still gets me everytime:

Glen Campbell - Galveston (Original Video HQ Stereo)

[Hoodat]

[wardaddy]

This thread on Dixie became about how the South treats Jews exactly why?

Ridiculous

One worries about Jews....it watch Brooklyn...just saying

Most Jews in Dixie are tucked in nice and safe....and prospering and getting on with the goyim just fine

What is this obsession really about?

[RightGeek]

Very interesting