Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 5-2016 'The oP wer of Pearls': Memoir of a Russian Jewish Immigrant to the American South Leah Cannon Burnham Clemson University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Recommended Citation Burnham, Leah Cannon, "'The oP wer of Pearls': Memoir of a Russian Jewish Immigrant to the American South" (2016). All Theses. 2394. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2394 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. “THE POWER OF PEARLS”: MEMOIR OF A RUSSIAN JEWISH IMMIGRANT TO THE AMERICAN SOUTH A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Master of Arts History by Leah Cannon Burnham May 2016 Accepted by: Dr. Steven Marks, Committee Chair Dr. Alan Grubb Dr. Megan Shockley ABSTRACT Abe Wolfe Davidson was a Russian Jewish artist who immigrated to the South in 1922. He created public and private sculpture and encouraged artistic culture in the region. Davidson wrote an autobiography prior to passing away in 1981 and his daughters donated the unpublished memoir to the Clemson Special Collections. He provides an insider’s perspective to artistic culture in the region during the first half of the twentieth century. His memoir also describes life in the Jewish Pale of Settlement and the immigrant experience in the American South. This thesis analyzes the historical significance of Davidson and the value of his memoir.