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Isaiah Breakfast Program on Louis Armstrong’s Jewish Background

Sunday, January 6, 2019 29 Tevet 5779

9:15 AM - 11:00 AMSocial Hall

“I shall always love the Karnofskys. I learned a lot from them about how to live—real life and determination . . . I began to feel like I had a future and ‘It’s a Wonderful World’ after all.” ─ Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans during an era of shootings and stabbings, street hookers and pimps, and outright squalor. A good home could mean life over death. Louis “Dipper” Armstrong found little family support. His beloved young mother, Mayann, was hardly around as she was on the streets herself, scratching for a living. His father had abandoned the family. Louis and his sister had to scavenge food from garbage bins.

But another family may have turned the tide. The Karnofskys, a poor but gritty clan of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, had put down roots a few blocks from the Armstrongs’ dwelling. When Louis was just seven years old, the Karnofskys brought him in—along with other young black children—to help with their budding coal and junk businesses.

In this talk, Peter Gerler will speak on the Karnofskys’ escape from Eastern European pogroms and their arrival in Louis’ neighborhood, how racism affected both Jews and blacks, and how the Karnofskys helped their brood (Louis included) to fight through and rise above adversity.

Peter has written about jazz since the early 1990s. He has been published in American Legacy, DownBeat, JazzTimes, Humanities, The Boston Globe, New Orleans Gambit, Moultrie Observer, WBGO Upbeat, www.jazz.com, www.nejazz.com, and other venues. He has presented on early jazz at Satchmo Summerfest, River Road African American Museum, Classic Jazz at Lincoln Library, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Newton Lifetime Learning, and numerous senior facilities in the Boston area.

Peter lived in New Orleans from 1990-1995 and is working on a book about the jazz legend Joe "King" Oliver (Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans mentor). In his previous life, Peter earned his living writing advertising copy, corporate communications, and trade journals. As an organizational trainer, he taught writing in both the public and private sectors. He is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association and the National Writers Union. He has played guitar with several small swing groups around New England, most recently Stan McDonald’s Blue Horizon Jazz Band.

Talks in this series are sponsored by Brotherhood and include a delicious buffet breakfast of assorted bagels, smoked salmon, pickled herring, whitefish salad, tabbouleh, desserts and more. Breakfast begins at 9:15 am, the presentation runs from 9:45 am to 10:45 am and is usually followed by a question and answer session. Admission is $10; free to Brotherhood members. For more information, email brotherhood@templeisaiah.net.

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