Category: DLG in the News

Posted on

The Jerusalem Post observes Shavuot, the “Feast of Weeks” with Georgia Historic Newspapers

Chag Sameach (Happy Holiday) from the Digital Library of Georgia this Shavuot.

From Sunday, May 16 to Tuesday, May 18, Jewish people worldwide observe the holiday of Shavuot fifty days after the first day of Passover. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement to Pharaoh; on Shavuot, they were given the Torah and became a nation committed to serving God.

The word “Shavuot” means “weeks.”

Across the Jewish diaspora, the holiday is celebrated by going to synagogue to hear the Ten Commandments, having festive meals of dairy foods, which may include cheesecake, blintzes, or kugels, and reading the Book of Ruth.


The Jerusalem Post just published an article by the writer David Geffen on this holiday. Geffen notes that the Daily News and Herald (Savannah, Ga.) and the Atlanta Georgian and News both refer to the holiday as “The Feast of Weeks,” and explores the initiation of confirmation in Reform Jewish temples in the United States. These confirmations were held on or around Shavuot. The article also includes engaging photographs held by The Breman Museum in Atlanta. Both articles represent Georgia’s established Jewish communities in Savannah and Atlanta.

The two newspaper articles, available through the DLG’s Georgia Historic Newspapers site are here:

“The Feast of Weeks” in The Daily News and Herald
https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn85026946/1868-05-27/ed-1/seq-3/
The Daily News and Herald. (Savannah, Ga.) 1866-1868, May 27, 1868, Image 3
“Feast of Weeks Observed by Ceremony of Temple Confirmation Class” in the Atlanta Georgian and News https://gahistoricnewspapers.galileo.usg.edu/lccn/sn89053728/1907-05-20/ed-1/seq-7/
Atlanta Georgian and News. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1912, May 20, 1907, Image 7

Happy holiday!

Share
Posted on

Have a listen: The Georgia Loyalist Delegate Challenge at the 1968 Democratic National Convention

JULIAN BOND TALKS ABOUT SEATING FOR GEORGIA DELEGATION IN CHICAGO, wsbn54386, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1483, 33:50/35:18, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga, https://dlg.usg.edu/record/ugabma_wsbn_wsbn54386

Exciting news for our colleague Donnie Summerlin!

Our Digital Projects Archivist Donnie Summerlin recently appeared on the Political Junkie podcast to discuss an article he recently wrote, “‘We Represented the Best of Georgia in Chicago’: The Georgia Loyalist Delegate Challenge at the 1968 Democratic National Convention” which appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of the Georgia Historical Quarterly. Ken Rudin, who has hosted the Political Junkie podcast since 2013, is the former political editor for National Public Radio (NPR).

The episode is available at https://www.krpoliticaljunkie.com/episode-338/

Donnie Summerlin’s segment begins at the 36:00 minute mark.

The discussion revolves around how, in August 1968, a group of dissident Georgia Democrats organized a challenge to the state’s certified delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The challenge began as a protest of the politics of segregationist governor Lester Maddox by moderates in the state Democratic party, but it transitioned into a cooperative effort between Georgia’s civil rights and antiwar movement activists to undermine the autocratic influence of party leaders in determining who would represent them at the convention. State representative and civil rights activist Julian Bond led the credentials fight in Chicago that ultimately resulted in the Loyalist challengers earning half the state’s delegates from the party regulars and Bond, himself, becoming the first African American nominated for vice president by a major party in the United States. This effort illustrated the Georgia Democratic Party’s bumpy transition from a conservative organization to a liberal one in the second half of the twentieth century. Additionally, the challenge was a significant event in the eventual reformation and democratization of the Democratic Party’s national delegate and presidential candidate selection process.

Congratulations to Donnie, and thanks to Ken Rudin for a great podcast!

Share