Barnett Mazursky and his two sisters were raised in Barnwell, South Carolina, by Herman Mazursky, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Louise Vaughan Mazursky, a Southern Baptist from Fredericks Hall, Virginia. Herman and Louise met while she was teaching in Barnwell. When they were married in 1945 by an Orthodox rabbi, Louise signed an agreement to raise their children in the Jewish faith. The Mazurskys were members of the Reform temple Children of Israel in Augusta, Georgia. Barnett, who was confirmed at the temple, recalls celebrating both Jewish and Christian holidays and attending church services with his mother. He describes the difficulties he encountered in having a Jewish father and a Christian mother; he felt he was not fully accepted by some adherents of either group. Herman, a partner in the firm Brown, Jefferies, & Mazursky, practiced law and served as Barnwell’s mayor from 1938 to 1970. Louise taught high school and college English for nearly thirty years. The interviewee reviews his family history on both sides, and discusses his parents’ views and practices in regard to race relations and school integration during the Civil Rights era.
