Antisemitism, U.S.A.: A History

In 1809, North Carolina lawmakers tried to stop Jacob Henry from taking his seat in the state legislature because he was Jewish. Many Americans believed that Jews like Henry couldn’t be moral citizens in a Protestant America, and this inspired them to donate vast sums of money in the early nineteenth century to religious societies dedicated to converting Jews into good Christian citizens.

Featuring: David ...

The California gold rush enticed many Jewish merchants west in search of prosperity in the mid-19th century, but their success drew unwelcome attention from state legislators, who passed laws requiring all businesses to close on the Christian Sabbath. Meanwhile, in the early Jim Crow South, Jewish peddlers and landowners faced resentment and violence, sometimes lethal.

Featuring: Jeremy Zeitlin, David Seha...

In Gilded Age America, immigration from Europe rapidly grew the nation’s Jewish population, convincing many Americans that Jews were a dangerous and undesirable race. As lawmakers debated ways to restrict immigration, business owners denied service to Jews in hotels, resorts, and other public accommodations.   

Featuring: Mitchel Hart, Zev Eleff, Britt Tevis, Jonathan Sarna, and Alan Kraut 

Na...

At the turn of the 20th century, conspiracy theories about Jews ran rampant in American society. Many Americans – from the famed automaker Henry Ford to officers in the U.S. Army – believed that Jews controlled media, dominated international banking, and were conspiring to foment a communist revolution in the United States.

Featuring: Yair Rosenberg, Victoria Saker Woeste, and Joseph Bendersky

Despite the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and the threat of renewed war in Europe, most Americans remained resolutely opposed to higher levels of Jewish immigration. Even as Jews faced persecution and genocide, antisemitic beliefs delayed American efforts to assist Jewish refugees and resettle concentration camp survivors, with tragic results.

Featuring: Bradley Hart, Rebecca Eberling, and Joseph Bende...

In post-war America, Bess Myerson became the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America competition, but she confronted bigotry and exclusion far more daunting than any pageant. Meanwhile, changing demographics of urban neighborhoods and the emerging civil rights movement led to unprecedented tensions between American Jews and African Americans in New York.

Featuring: Kristen Fermaglich, Pamela Nadell, Bri...

In the early 1970s, two powerful men, President Richard Nixon and evangelist Billy Graham, held secret Oval Office conversations about Jews. “America’s Pastor” and the 37th President of the United States didn’t consider themselves antisemites, but they dredged up stereotypes and traded in conspiracy theories shared by many Americans about the “good Jews”:  Jews who were too smart, too powerful, and all too willing to c...

In the decades following the Six-Day War in 1967, anti-Zionism gained momentum in American academia and led to the rise of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement on college campuses. Nearly sixty years later, the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, revealed how antisemitism and progressive critiques of Israel’s war in Gaza could find a home in American universities.

Featuring: Rachel Fish, C...

In August 2017, white supremacists marched on Charlottesville, VA to silence the Jews, Black Americans, and other minorities whom they feared would “replace us.” The Unite the Right Rally was one of many ominous signs of persistent antisemitic attitudes and violence in the United States, but in this history of hate, some Americans found reason to hope.

Featuring: Yair Rosenberg, Jonathan Greenblatt, Mehnaz...