Join Us for the Spell Freedom book discussion with Elaine Weiss and Professor E. R. Shipp
Thursday, March 26 | 7 PM
Beth Am Synagogue | 2501 Eutaw Place, Baltimore

Spell Freedom is the story of four social justice activists whose audacious plan to restore voting rights to Black citizens in the Jim Crow south laid the groundwork for the civil rights movement.

"A beautifully crafted and dramatic tale that testifies to the resilience of America's dreamers and freedom fighters. How did so many ordinary people find the courage to stand up for their rights? How did they organize? How did they overcome apathy and disillusion? Elaine Weiss answers these timely questions in a brilliant book that illuminates not only the past but also a path forward."

--Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize winning author of King: A Life

Elaine Weiss Bio

Beth Am congregant Elaine Weiss is a journalist and the author of three books of narrative history. Her book on the women's suffrage movement, The Woman's Hour was a GoodReads Readers' Choice Award winner, short-listed for the 2019 Chautauqua Prize, and received the American Bar Association's highest honor, the 2019 Silver Gavel Award.

Her newest book, Spell Freedom:The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement has won high praise from scholars and readers alike, described as "a beautifully crafted and dramatic tale" told with "elegant writing, masterful storytelling, and prodigious research." Spell Freedom was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in nonfiction books, awarded by the American Library Association, and was selected by Amazon's editors as one of the best history books of 2025.

When not at her desk Elaine plays spoons in the Klei Kodesh band.

Professor E. R. Shipp Bio

E. R. Shipp is a journalist-scholar with advanced degrees from Columbia University (M.S. in journalism, M.A. in history, J.D. in law) – and from life. She is a founding faculty member of the School of Global Journalism and Communication (SGJC) at Morgan State University, where she is an associate professor.

She was born and raised in Conyers, Ga., when it was still rural and when televisions, telephones, indoor plumbing, and paved roads were rarities. She migrated to New York City in 1976 and became – forever – a denizen of Harlem. If she had stuck with her original interest, home economics, she might have become a B. Smith or a Martha Stewart. Instead, she is more like Ida B. Wells, crusading for justice as a journalist and educator.

Prof. Shipp began her journalism career at the New York Times. She has been a reporter and editor at the Times, a columnist at the New York Daily News and the Baltimore Sun, an ombudsman for the Washington Post, and a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in a variety of spaces. It was her work at the Daily News that led to her becoming the first Black woman to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1996.

She is a foodie and a dedicated genealogist. She is also a lifelong learner who loves jazz, Scrabble, television, public radio, movies, and exploring Baltimore.