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Historians continue to study and debate the extent of antisemitism in American history and how American antisemitism has similarities and distinctions with its European counterpart.
Dr. Reena Sigman Friedman notes similarities between the form and substance of European and American antisemitism, and has stated "[t]hough antisemitism appeared in a number of forms during and after the American Civil War, it was amplified by the introduction of race theory in the United States, often linked to nativism, xenophobia and anti-urban sentiment, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries."[1] Hasia Diner provides a similar perspective, stating, "by the 1870s in Europe and the United States, the argument shifts to the Jews as defective. Not Judaism as defective, but the Jew as a particular social type who had defective mental and moral abilities."[2]
John Higham noted certain distinctions between European and American antisemitism, suggesting that in the United States "no decisive event, no deep crisis, no powerful social movement, no great individual is associated primarily with, or significant chiefly because of anti-Semitism."[3] Historian David A. Gerber stated that antisemitism "has been a distinctly minor feature of the nation's historical development" because historians such as Higham have previously "taken little interest it."[4] Historian Britt Tevis recognized this trend, noting "Handlin and Higham's ideas (especially Higham's) remain influential, and many American Jewish historians continue to present antisemitism as largely insignificant, momentary, primarily social.".[5] Tevis questions this trend, noting that "a major component of this argument is the claim that, unlike in Europe, anti-Semitism in the United States has been an insignificant force—fleeting and more or less harmless. For the most part. . . [r]elatedly, they’ve argued that neither the law nor the state has played a role in perpetuating anti-Jewish sentiments. My research challenges these long held ideas by revealing the ways in which the state condoned and sometimes promoted anti-Jewish animus."[6]
One early US governmental incident of anti-Jewish action came during the American Civil War, when General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 (1862) to expel Jews from the portions of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi then under his control. The order was quickly rescinded by President Lincoln. Grant himself later became a supporter of Jews.
From the 1870s to the 1940s, Jews were routinely discriminated against and barred from working in some fields of employment, barred from residing certain properties, not accepted as members by elite social clubs, barred from resort areas and limited by quotas in enrolling in elite colleges. Antisemitism reached its peak with the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, antisemitic publications by Henry Ford, and incendiary radio speeches by Father Coughlin in the late 1930s.
Following World War II and the Holocaust, antisemitic sentiment declined in the United States; nevertheless, there has been an upsurge in the number of antisemitic hate crimes in recent years. Some historians have stated that the recent focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion government programs facilitates antisemitism by portraying Jews as oppressors, particularly on college campuses. Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, there has been a notable surge in antisemitism throughout the US and attacks targeting Jewish individuals, with media often focusing on incidents occurring at anti-Israel protests in and/or around college campuses.[7]
- ^ Friedman, Reena Sigman (March 12, 2021). "Antisemitism in Europe and America in the Modern Period: Historical Perspectives". Evolve.
- ^ "Ford's Anti-Semitism". American Experience. PBS. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
- ^ Higham, John (1966). "American Anti-Semitism Historically Reconsidered". In Stember, Charles (ed.). Jews in the American Mind. p. 237.
- ^ Gerber, David A. (1986). "Introduction". In Gerber, David A. (ed.). Anti-Semitism in American History. University of Illinois Press. p. 7.
- ^ Tevis (2021), p. 257.
- ^ Tevis, Britt (April 6, 2021). "Katz Center Fellow Britt Tevis on "Mythical Jewish Arsonists" and Anti-Jewish Discrimination in U.S. History". University of Pennsylvania.
- ^ "ADL Reports Unprecedented Rise in Antisemitic Incidents Post-Oct. 7". Anti-Defamation League. December 11, 2023.