An Uncommon Journey To Diversity Takes Place in California

Artist Rick Hyman discovered a treasure when he came across 300 grainy black-and-white photos from the early 1900s in a relative’s dresser drawer. The archive, ranging from casual snapshots to formal portraits, documented his family’s post-slavery migration in covered wagons to Texas oil property. Hyman was inspired to pick up a paintbrush and interpret his personal history with a bold, color-drenched flair. Now middle and high school students in California of varied religious and cultural backgrounds are doing the same thing. The students researched their ancestors and family histories at The Jewish Community Center at Milken in West Hills and created original paintings based on their own family photographs and oral histories, under Hyman’s tutelage. The students read Hyman’s book, My Texas Family, An Uncommon Journey to Prosperity, and used it as a model for their own work.

The artwork has been on display throughout February at the JCC’s Finegood Art Gallery in celebration of Black History Month. The JCC at Milken partnered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles Valley Alliance to present the West San Fernando Valley community program – An Uncommon Journey to Diversity. Over 200 people attended the exhibit opening, and several government officials have come to see the students’ work. Los Angeles Unified School District commissioners were so impressed that they decided to expand the program to up to 26 schools for next year.

The students discovered the benefits and beauty of diversity while developing a sense of pride in their own cultures. The Committee for An Uncommon Journey to Diversity includes representatives from the Los Angeles Human Relation Commission, Los Angeles Unified School District, New Community Jewish High School, The JCC at Milken, with partnerships with the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles Valley Alliance, and the Finegood Art Gallery.

JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER OF WYOMING VALLEY WELCOMES CROWD

Plan it and they will come. The Jewish Community Center of Wyoming Valley in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania hosted a two-day cultural and educational event, and almost 500 people came to hear scholars and experts lead various seminars on health, history, the environment, and diversity.

After a showing of the film Defiance, Mrs. Ruth Bielski Ehhrich addressed the crowd. Her father Tuvia Bielsk led thousands of Jews through the forests of Belarus, away from certain extermination, during World War II, and his story is retold in the film. Ehhrich’s recounting of the making of the movie and her discussion of her life growing up with her family provided a fascinating, moving, and emotional window into that bleak period

Other speakers focused on local history, Broadway musical theater, neuro-immunology, and relationships between different faith communities in western Pennsylvania. Chairperson Connie Roth said, "Through the efforts of our JCC, we brought together persons of talent, industry, intellectual keenness and unusual background, who were kind enough to share their vast storehouse of knowledge, their life experiences and their particular abilities with a receptive, large, and grateful audience."