Stone Lecture: 'Navigating History: Civil Rights & the Jews of Selma, Alabama'

The Center for the Study of Judaism and Jewish Culture annual Stone Lectureship in Judaism, "Navigating History: Civil Rights & the Jews of Selma, Alabama," will be streaming and open to the public Thursday, April 3, 2025, from 7-8 p.m. in Olin auditorium. Snacks and refreshments will be provided by the Jewish Federation of the QC.

About the presentation

Selma, Alabama, is an internationally known icon because of the Civil Rights Movement. In popular imagination, the confrontation that occurred was between Black and white citizens. Although segregated, both communities were Christian; but where did the city's substantial Jewish community stand? Dr. Amy Milligan's work explores the history of Jewish life in Selma, Alabama, problematizing the assumption that Jewish Selmians experienced the marches and Bloody Sunday in the same way as other citizens. Through ethnography and oral history, Milligan captures the narratives retold by the community, explores a complex and nuanced history, and probes the question of how memory and legacy can be molded and shaped through truth telling for communities with troublesome histories, offering a story much larger than that of a single synagogue.

About the speaker

Amy K. Milligan is the Batten Endowed Associate Professor of Jewish Studies and Women's and Gender Studies and the director of the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.). She is the author of "Hair, Headwear, and Orthodox Jewish Women: Kallas's Choice" (2014) and "Jewish Bodylore: Feminist and Queer Ethnographies of Folk Practices" (2019). She serves as associate editor of the journal Jewish Folklore and Ethnology and writes and speaks widely on Jewish folklife and culture.