Emma Mordecai

Emma Mordecai
Emma Mordecai, Richmond VA studio portrait (courtesy Mordecai House, Raleigh, NC). From General Negative Collection, State Archives of North Carolina.
BornOctober 6, 1812
North Carolina
DiedApril 8, 1906(1906-04-08) (aged 93)
Brevard, Transylvania County, North Carolina
Occupationeducator
RelativesJacob Mordecai (father)
Moses Mordecai (grandfather)

Emma Mordecai (October 6, 1812 – April 8, 1906) was an American educator, diarist, slave owner, outspoken supporter of the Confederacy and the values of the Old South, and active member of the Jewish community in 19th-century Richmond, Virginia. While some members of her family had converted to Christianity, amidst a climate of antisemitism in the Civil War-era South, Mordecai remained an observant Jew her entire life. She devoted most of her life to educational and religious causes, founding the Jewish Sunday school at Congregation Beth Shalome of Richmond.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ "Emma Mordecai". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  2. ^ "Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities - Richmond, Virginia". Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  3. ^ "Mordecai, Jacob". State Library of North Carolina. Retrieved 2022-05-09.