Their story is familiar people in search of economic opportunity, religious freedom and a better life. Their experiences mirror those of all immigrants coming to America with hope and a belief in a brighter future for themselves and their children. Developed by the Rosenzweig Museum of the Jewish Family in Durham, the exhibit will remain on view from March 18 through May 27.
Migrations tells the story of three waves of Jewish settlers.
Sephardic Jews of Spanish-Portuguese origin came to the Cape Fear region beginning in the 1770s. Between 1820 and 1880, large numbers of German Jews, or Ashkenazim, settled in eastern North Carolina. The last wave of immigration occurred between 1880 and 1920, when Eastern European Jews, fleeing poverty and persecution, arrived in the area. Migrations chronicles the experience of these groups as newly arrived immigrants, fledgling entrepreneurs and long-standing members of their North Carolina communities. Migrations tells the story of Jewish immigrants, but many of their experiences are common to all immigrants, says Kathryn Beach, research historian at the historical complex.