The Karsh Family Foundation has given a $2 million gift to the Skirball Cultural Center to support the Skirball’s work highlighting connections between Black and Jewish Americans.
“There has never been a greater need for solidarity between Black and Jewish communities as threats of antisemitism and racism continue to bedevil our democratic freedoms,” said Skirball President and CEO Jessie Kornberg. “We know this gift from the Karsh family will allow the Skirball to meet that need and we are so grateful.”
The announcement was made during a Dec. 5 program called “Perspectives on Black-Jewish Relations in the Fight for Civil Rights” that showcased Civil Rights icon the Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. in conversation with Los Angeles Councilwoman Katy Yaroslovsky. It highlighted the relationship between Jewish values and the defense and establishment of civil rights and was inspired by the Karsh Foundation gift.
“These alliances have been a bedrock of American progress and can be again.” – Martha Karsh
Martha Karsh, who co-founded the Karsh Family Foundation alongside her husband Bruce, said they are both “proud to support the Skirball’s ongoing efforts to celebrate those who have worked to dismantle systems and laws that have segregated and subjugated Jews, Blacks and other historically oppressed minorities. These alliances have been a bedrock of American progress and can be again.”
The Skirball’s current exhibition, “This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement” shows photos from the movement, including ones from a Jewish American photographer who documented this vital work.
Additionally, the Skirball has created a community that will explore Black-Jewish relations. Those involved include Chief Operating Officer of the Los Angeles Urban League Cynthia Mitchell Heard; Dr. Alison Rose Jefferson, independent historian and curator; Chief Executive Officer of the United Negro College Fund Dr. Michael Lomax; Chief Executive Officer of LA Commons Karen Mack; and Distinguished Professor David Myers, the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at the University of California, Los Angeles.
“The Karsh Family’s gift will fund important research and planning for additional exhibitions and curriculum design, as well as community gatherings,” said Jefferson. “We are excited to be engaged in this important work alongside one the nation’s most important Jewish cultural centers.”
According to Kornberg, the Black and Jewish communities have deep ties throughout modern American history.
“Whether through Julius Rosenwald and Booker T. Washington’s school-building partnership in the 1920s, the extraordinary work of HBCUs to welcome German Jewish refugees in the 1930s or the lionized coalitions between Civil Rights leaders and Jewish congregations in the 1960s – at key moments in American experience shared experiences and interests between Black and Jewish communities have forged a path through conflict towards greater inclusion and prosperity,” she said. “In an age of increasing division and social disconnection, it is important to better understand how these communities connected in the past so that we might imagine strengthening those connections in the future.”
In general, Kornberg believes that the Skirball’s programs and exhibitions and sharing of Jewish history and culture will help to demystify Judaism and Jewish identity for a broader audience, working to fight antisemitism at the same time.
“As the foreign becomes familiar the opportunity for sharing, mutual appreciation, and respect despite difference grows,” she said. “The hope with a cultural connection project like this one is to help all those who experience it see themselves in some aspect of all sides of a story – not just those with whom they might initially identify.”
