Oral history interview with Jack Pincus Brickman, 1998.

ArchivalResource

Brickman, Jack Pincus, 1921-. Oral history interview with Jack Pincus Brickman, 1998.

Oral history interview with Jack Pincus Brickman, 1998.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50649129

Interview begins with discussion of Brickman's parents, Sam Elliyahu Brickman and Luba Kapler Brickman, and their lives in Poland. His father's relatively poor family owned a grocery store, while his mother was more affluent and finished high school; the two were childhood sweethearts. Sam Brickman (spelled Brykman while in Poland) immigrated to the U.S. in 1912 through the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. He held a factory job in Rock Island, Illinois, for a short time, then moved to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was a peddler and later a merchant for the Sam Solomon Company. Brickman sent for Luba Kapler in 1920 and the couple married. Jack Brickman describes his father's business ventures including a tailor shop at 543 King Street in Charleston. The family purchased the surrounding buildings and renovated the upper levels into a spacious ten-room home. Sam Brickman's strong friendships with Sam Solomon, Benny Solomon, and Leon Feldman are mentioned as well. Brickman discusses his childhood and recalls that both Yiddish and English were spoken at home; he remembers his mother's kosher kitchen with separate dishes, towels, and soaps, and describes the koshering process. The family attended Beth Israel synagogue, and Brickman mentions the minyan room (on King Street) where Orthodox Jews went to pray three times per day. He refers to days at Courtney School, his large group of Jewish friends (many from the St. Philip Street area), and remembers that his mother attended weekly poker games with other Jewish women. He describes Hebrew education and Bar Mitzvah preparation with Rabbi Benjamin G. Axelman and provides detailed descriptions of Laufer's Kosher Restaurant (on King Street) and the Mazo's Jewish grocery store. On the subject of anti-Semitism, he recalls occasional haggling (as a boy), but relates the subject to admission practices (pre-World War II) at the Medical University of South Carolina. He describes how family friends offered to help him get into medical school (if he was interested) and by-pass the unspoken policy that MUSC would admit only two Jewish students per year. Brickman claims this practice was a known fact and refers to it as "latent anti-Semitism."

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : analog.Sound recording : 1 sound cassette : digital.Transcript : 26 p. ; 28 cm.

College of Charleston, Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library