Jackson Free Press

Author Eli Evans, who served as a speechwriter for President Lyndon B. Johnson, is heading to Jackson this weekend to help the Beth Israel Congregation celebrate its 150th anniversary.

The Durham, N.C. native has written extensively about Jewish culture. His book "The Provincials," published in 1973, explores the Jewish South by weaving autobiography, storytelling and interpretive history of the region. He is also the author of "Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate" and "The Lonely Days Were Sundays: Reflections of a Jewish Southerner."

Evans graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1958 and Yale Law School in 1968. In 1978, he served as president of the Revson Foundation charitable organization where he oversaw grants totaling more than $147 million to Jewish causes, urban affairs, education and research. He retired in 2003.

On Friday, March 4, at 8 p.m., Evans will discuss the role southern Jews played in improving their communities during Beth Israel's Tikkum Olam Shabbat Program (5315 Old Canton Road, 601-956-6215). Evans hosts a panel discussion about the state of the South at Beth Israel on Saturday, March 5, at 11 a.m. Other panel participants include Professor Ted Ownby, director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, and Malcolm White, director of the Mississippi Arts Commission.