Exhibit to feature Holocaust survivors’ art, timed to Auschwitz’s liberation 75 years ago

Holocaust Education Week starts Sunday with free events throughout the county.

The week opens with the exhibit, “The Anguish of Liberation,” from 3 to 6 p.m. at the Miami Beach Regional Library, 227 22nd St. Monday marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the Nazi-run concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II.

The exhibit features the art from Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, and the Miami-Dade Public Library System Permanent Art Collection. The exhibit will be on display through April 26 during library hours.

At 3 p.m. Sunday, also at the library, Nicola Gavioli, a visiting assistant professor of Portuguese at Florida International University, will lecture on the writings of Primo Levi, an Italian Jewish Holocaust survivor who has written extensively about the Holocaust.

On Monday, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation will host The Main Event, at 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton Miami Downtown, 1601 Biscayne Blvd. The evening will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and honor Holocaust survivors. Go here for information about the event.

For more information on the events throughout the county and to RSVP to the Art Exhibit opening, go to HolocaustMemorialMiamiBeach.org/2020hew, or call 305-538-1663.

One of Miami’s pioneer black nurses has died

Recently one of Miami’s pioneer black nurses — Mizie Rolle Hanna — died.

To those outside Miami’s black community, her name wouldn’t ring a bell. But to some of us, her passing brought back a flood of memories — of proud young black women dressed in their white nurses’ uniforms, and of the old Christian hospital, where black patients could be treated for their illnesses with dignity.

Nurse Hanna, as she was called, was one of Miami’s black nurses who opened the way (another was Thelma Gibson), and mentored young black women who wanted to become nurses. One of them was my friend Agnes Rolle Morton, who knew Nurse Hanna.

“Nurse Hanna was one of a select group of nurses who mentored others and who also played a pivotal role in helping to maintain Christian Hospital as a premier facility. She worked with outstanding black physicians such as J. K. Johnson Sr., Nathaniel Colston, William Patterson, A.W. Henry, C. M. Smith, James Hogans Sr., Hiram Coleman, Albert Edwards, and George and Dazelle Simpson. And if a mother was in labor, it wasn’t unusual for her to deliver a baby before the doctor arrived.”

At Christian Hospital, she served as a nurse supervisor, nurse manager and director of nursing. Later in her career, as more doors opened to black professionals, she was a special duty nurse at Mount Sinai and Jackson Memorial hospitals.

She was one of the earliest members of Miami’s Black Professional Nurses Association. In 2017 and 2019, she was honored with the organization’s Sankofa Award, presented to senior nurses who paved the way for younger nurses, and who made significant contributions to the healthcare profession. She retired in 1978.

Mizie Elizabeth Rolle Hanna, the daughter of Bahamian immigrants, was born Oct. 4, 1924, in Miami. She graduated from Dorsey High School in 1942 as the class valedictorian, and entered Grady Hospital Training School for Nurses in Atlanta, graduating in 1945.

In 1947, she married her childhood sweetheart, Carl Hanna, a former Miami Dade Schools administrator, who preceded her in death. They were the parents of two — a daughter Florence Hanna Dukes and a son Carl Jr., who died when he was an infant.

Her longtime friend and fellow RN, Lena Collier, 91, said: “She was always soft-spoken and kind to everyone. She was sharp and was a blessing to all who knew her.”

Said her daughter: “Mom’s life journey… was to live by example of God’s greatest tenet of Christianity — service to others, and strong family values.”

Nurse Hanna died Jan 11, and was laid to rest on Jan. 24.

Chabad of Coral Gables offers Jewish history course

Chabad of Downtown Coral Gables, 1827 Ponce de Leon Boulevard, will offer a course that reveals Jewish origins of Western civilization, called “Judaism’s Gifts to the World.” It is a six-week course taught by instructors from the Rohr Jewish Institute (JLI).

The course begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“At a moment in which we are witnessing a rise in anti-Semitism, it is important to explore what has been the true impact of Jews and Judaism on civilization,” said Rabbi Avraham Stolik of Shabad, who will be the local JLI instructor. “Understanding Judaism’s historical contribution gives us a deeper appreciation for its continuing relevance, and a better understanding of how the moral and ethical institutions we take for granted came into being.”

The course is open to the public. Interested students may call 305-490-7572 or visit www.ChabadGables.com/JLI to register and for more information.

‘The Art of a Spiritual’

The African Heritage Cultural Arts Center’s Black History Month celebration will open with Miami’s black opera singers in a concert entitled, “The Art of a Spiritual.” The concert will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1, at the Sandrell Rivers Theater, 6103 NW Seventh Ave. in Liberty City.

The concert will feature 15 Negro spirituals performed by Kyaunnee Richardson, soprano; Angel Refuse, baritone; Erica Williams, soprano; and Isis Roberts, mezzo soprano. The program will also feature the Voices of Heritage and Karl Richardson, pianist.

Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased at Sandrell Rivers Box Office or online at https://tickets.ftfshows.com/ from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.