In the early 1990's Bill Aron was approached by Macy Hart and Vicki Rikes Fox of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience to document Jewish life in the American South. Never having spent much time in that area of the world, Bill figured that the project would be completed rather quickly, "South, deep South—how many Jews could there be? One or two trips, it'll be done." The project would last over a decade and result in a book Shalom, Y'all: Images of Jewish Life in the American South, which was published in 2002, as well as an exhibition that was on view at institutions like the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York, and the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans.

Project director and author Vicki Rikes Fox joins us to give her commentary on the project, along with current Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience Director Kenneth Hoffman, for historical context. Bill shares stories about southern cooking, intermarriage, mercantile salesmen, and matchmaking.

The World in Front of Me is presented by Jay and Gretchen Stein, with generous support from the Knapp Family Foundation, the Philip and Muriel Berman Foundation in Honor of Alan Bloch, Scott and Dianne Einhorn, The Karetsky Family, and Michael and Corie Koss.

Image Credit: Henrietta Levine Chopped Chicken Liver, Pine Bluff, AR, 1991, Bill Aron.