Most Fortunate Unfortunates Book Launch
October 25 @ 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Join us at the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience on October 25th at 6:30 for the official launch of Marlene Trestman’s new book Most Fortunate Unfortunates: The Jewish Orphans’ Home of New Orleans. The work, the first comprehensive history of America’s first purpose-built Jewish orphanage, provides a view of life in the Jewish Orphans’ Home for the children and women who lived there. The study also traces the forces that impelled the Home’s founders and leaders—both the heralded men and otherwise overlooked women—to create and maintain the institution that Jews considered the “pride of every Southern Israelite.” While Trestman celebrates the Home’s many triumphs, she also delves deeply into its failures. The work explores southern Jewish history, gender and race relations, and the evolution of social work and dependent childcare.
Trestman’s talk about the Jewish Orphans’ Home and the research that produced the book will be followed by a reception and a book signing. This is an in-person event; a Zoom livestream will also be available for those who cannot attend.
