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Profs & Pints: When Jews Saved Monticello

Profs and Pints presents: "When Jews Saved Monticello," with Marc Leepson, journalist, historian, author, and adjunct history instructor.

Monticello is not just a great place to learn about Thomas Jefferson. It also stands as a monument to the key role that Jewish Americans have played in both making and preserving American history.

Come hear Marc Leepson, historian, biographer and author of Saving Monticello, tell the fascinating story of the Jewish family that stepped up to save Monticello from ruin twice in the 1800s. It's a tale that sheds light on the deep roots that Jewish Americans have in the United States and their many contributions to this nation in its earliest days.

You'll learn how ancestors of that family arrived in America in 1733 as refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, and went on to help found Savannah, Georgia. You'll hear of family members who fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, rose to the highest ranks of the military, helped establish two of the nation's oldest Jewish Congregations, and served in Congress. Their philanthropic contributions are the main reason why we can still visit and enjoy Monticello today.

It's the nation's story as told through the meticulously researched story of a single family. It's likely to leave many audience members wondering about the contributions their own families made generations ago or hold the potential to make in the future. (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, save $2 with student ID.)