Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Helen Kronrad Coplan
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- Title:
- Jewish Heritage Collection: Oral history interview with Helen Kronrad Coplan
- Date:
- 2016
- Interviewer:
- Filler, Lilly, 1947-
- Interviewee:
- Coplan, Helen Kronrad, 1919-
- Description:
- Helen Kronrad Coplan, one of four children of Fannie Levine and Oskar Kronrad, discusses growing up in Columbia, South Carolina, in the 1920s and 1930s. Oskar, an Austrian immigrant, ran an auto parts store in the capital city. Helen recalls her mother’s baking skills and shopping with Fannie for kosher chickens butchered by Rev. David Karesh. She describes her memories of racial segregation practices in Columbia, and of the Big Apple, an African American nightclub, housed in the former House of Peace Synagogue on Park Street, and known as the birthplace of the Big Apple dance that became popular in 1937. In 1940 Helen married Louis Coplan, also a Columbia native, and they raised five children in their hometown. After serving on the aircraft carrier USS Lexington in the South Pacific during World War II, Louis joined his father, Max Coplan, in his grocery business in Columbia. Helen was a saleswoman for World Book encyclopedias.
- Collection Title:
- Jewish Heritage Collection Oral Histories
- Contributing Institution:
- College of Charleston Libraries
- Media Type:
- Oral Histories
- Topical Subject:
- World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Jewish, Jewish cooking, Jews--South Carolina--Columbia--Interviews, Jewish merchants--South Carolina--Columbia--History, Segregation--South Carolina--Columbia--History, African American dance--History
- S.C. County:
- Richland County (S.C.)
- Language:
- English
- Shelving Locator:
- MSS 1035-465
- Date Digital:
- 2016-11-29
- Digitization Specifications:
- Mp3 derivative audio created with Audacity software. Archival masters are wav files.
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Copyright Status Statement:
- Copyright © Jewish Heritage Collection
- Access Statement:
- All rights reserved.
- Access Information:
- For more information, contact Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries, 66 George Street, Charleston SC 29424.
- Admin ID:
- 246431
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