If Ralph Ellison were Jewish

Sammy Davis Jr. and Rod Carew were Jews. Jordan Farmar can thank his mother and Lenny Kravitz his father. For Whoopi Goldberg, the Jewish blood is a little farther back on the genealogical tree. But other than this list of recognizable black Jews, many of whom are converts to Judaism, African-American Jews are largely an "invisible" group, says Lewis Ricardo Gordon, director of Temple University's Center for Afro-Jewish Studies.

Gordon, according to this article from the Philly Inquiror, is trying to change that by researching the roots of black Jews (not to be confused with Beta Israel, the ancient Jews of Ethiopa).

"Most American Jews identify as descended from ancient Jews," without acknowledging that the ancients were dark-skinned, Gordon says.

Judaism's biblical fathers (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) and mothers (Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca and Leah) lived at a time and place when most everybody was brown-skinned, Gordon says.

"Moses was probably a dark-skinned man, too," he says. "He probably did not look like Charleton Heston."

Time, trade routes and politics each had a role in creating the "wandering Jew," says Gordon, who previously chaired the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University. "But Jews have always been an amalgam."