The Civil War Diary of Emma Mordecai

Jewish people living in the American South owned enslaved people, fought for the Confederacy, and participated in civic life by socializing with Christian neighbors and even attending Christian churches. Documents such as Emma Mordecai’s diary give a window into this little-known world and its contradictions. For most readers, the introduction to the text by Ashton (emeritus, philosophy and world religions, Rowan Univ.) with Klapper (history and women’s and gender studies, Rowan Univ.) will be the most valuable aspect of the book, as it describes Mordecai’s world and contextualizes her writing. A woman steeped in a racist and paternalistic culture, her thoughts and values will be offensive to a modern audience, certainly, but they were also offensive to many at the time. Her reactions to the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the Civil War are instructive, and readers will see echoes in white reactions to later civil rights movements. The additional lens of Mordecai’s Jewish heritage and faith, as part of a family where many had converted to Christianity or were raising their children as Christians so they could more easily fit into Southern life, shows a side of American Jewish assimilation that is largely forgotten.