Antisemitism in America — Conversations: Truth, Myth & Democracy (Virtual)

Registration Required Below

Antisemitism in America dates back to the arrival of the first Jewish people in 1654 and it still persists today.

Join us as Dr. Daniel Barrett moderates an important Conversations discussion with Dr.Ellen M. Umansky, the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies emeritus at Fairfield University. Dr. Umansky will discuss the origins of antisemitism in the United States, where the First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion,  but where religious minorities have been subjected to violence and prejudice since colonial days.

Umansky graduated from Wellesley College in 1972, then earned a master’s degree in religion from Yale Divinity School in 1974 and a PhD in Judaic studies from Columbia University in 1981. She taught at various colleges before joining the faculty at Fairfield University in 1994, where she also was the Director of the Bennett Center for Judaic Studies until 2022.

The author of five books and almost one hundred scholarly articles and encyclopedia articles on modern Jewish history and religious thought and/or Jewish women’s spirituality, she is the 2009 recipient of Fairfield University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Vision Award for her “effort to instill and inspire the teachings and ideals” of Dr. King.

This virtual webinar will be hosted via Zoom.  Registered participants will receive an invitation with link prior to the program. Please include a cell phone number to receive a text reminder.

Panelists:

Ellen M. Umansky serves as the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies emerita at Fairfield University. The author of numerous essays, book chapters, and reviews on modern Jewish history and thought, and on women in Judaism, she is also the author of five books and almost 100 scholarly articles and encyclopedia articles on modern Jewish history and religious thought and Jewish women’s spirituality. Dr. Umansky is the 2009 recipient of Fairfield University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Faculty Vision Award for her “effort to instill and inspire the teachings and ideals” of Dr. King. She was also awarded the National Religious Studies Honor Society (Theta Alpha Kappa)’s 2021 Kathleen Connolly Weinert Leadership Award.

Dr. Daniel W. Barrett is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Western Connecticut State University. A former resident of Redding, he graduated with a BA from Wesleyan University, earned his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Arizona State University and served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Health Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Conversations: Truth, Myth & Democracy is a series of programs co-sponsored by Redding’s League of Women Voters and The Mark Twain Library. Winner of the 2022 Connecticut Library Association’s Award for Excellence in Public Library Service, the series continues the community conversation on issues of race, justice and democracy.

Many thanks to area Libraries and Leagues for their support of this series:
Easton Public Library Weston Public Library Friends of the Weston Public Library Newtown’s C.H. Booth Library Ridgefield Library Woodbury Public Library The League of Women Voters of Weston The League of Women Voters of Ridgefield The League of Women Voters of Northern Fairfield County

Registration is currently closed for this event.