VCU news

By Brian McNeill

Jonathan D. Sarna, Ph.D., co-author of “Lincoln and the Jews: A History,” will deliver the 33rd annual Brown-Lyons Lecture at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Sarna, University Professor, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History and chair of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at Brandeis University, will present his book at 7 p.m. April 11 in the Lecture Hall (Room 303) of James Branch Cabell Library, 901 Park Ave.

“Lincoln and the Jews,” which was co-written by Benjamin Shapell, details a new aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s relationship with American Jews that affected both his path to the presidency and his policy decisions as president.

“Lincoln’s lifetime coincided with the emergence of Jews on the national scene in the United States,” the publisher wrote. “When he was born, in 1809, scarcely 3,000 Jews lived in the entire country. By the time of his assassination in 1865, large-scale immigration, principally from central Europe, had brought that number up to more than 150,000. Many Americans, including members of Lincoln’s cabinet and many of his top generals during the Civil War, were alarmed by this development and treated Jews as second-class citizens and religious outsiders. Lincoln, this book shows, exhibited precisely the opposite tendency.”

The event is free and open to all, but registration is requested. To register, visit: www.support.vcu.edu/brownlyons2018.

Parking will be available for a fee in the West Broad Street, West Main Street and West Cary Street parking decks. If special accommodations are needed, or to register offline, call the VCU Libraries Events Office at (804) 828-0593.

Sarna is a past president of the Association for Jewish Studies and chief historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. He has written, edited or co-edited more than 30 books, including “When General Grant Expelled the Jews” and “American Judaism: A History.”

This event is part of the Association for Jewish Studies Distinguished Lectureship Program and is presented by VCU Libraries and sponsored by the Friends of VCU Libraries, the VCU Center for Judaic Studies in the School of World Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences, the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, the Richmond Jewish Foundation and the Weinstein JCC.

The Brown-Lyons Lecture series explores the many facets of Jewish history, culture and faith and how these shape, are shaped by, and intersect with other world traditions, faiths and peoples.