History of the Jews in America is much less dramatic than history of the Jews that lived in Europe. In the USA, the Jews were not discriminated as it happened in Russia, Germany, France and other major countries. In addition, American Jews benefited from the “black-white” racial discourse that was popular in the USA for several centuries. As a result, they had more chances to be accepted in the American society than black people or other outsiders. Nevertheless, there were several short periods in American history when American Jews had to think of the ways how to protect their race from discrimination. The first half of the XX century was especially difficult for the Jews that moved to the USA from hostile regions in Europe. Interestingly, there were also many debates among Jewish people what to put emphasis on – race or faith – when they were trying to negotiate equal rights with White Americans.
There is historical evidence that the first Jews arrived in America during the colonial period that lasted from 1654 to 1775. In The Jew in the American World (1996) edited by Jacob Marcus, one may read that there were six congregations in British North America by 1775. They included Montreal, New York, New Port, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah. The first religious services were held by the Jews in New Amsterdam in the 1650s. Starting from 1777, states began to emancipate Jews. Emancipation process began in New York state that was the first state to declare “the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference” (Marcus 1996, 96).
It was difficult to calculate when and how many Jews were arriving to America because of absence of proper historical records. Nevertheless, since July, 1, 1898 the USA started to officially distinguish people by race. Before the USA applied a restriction policy in the first half of the XX century, three-fourths of migrants were Jewish (Willcox 1931, 472). Jews mainly came from the Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires. For example, in 1898-1899 out of 123,000 immigrants from these two countries, the Jews amounted for 28.5% (Willcox 1931, 473). In total, in 1899-1924 approximately 1,800,000 Jews moved to the USA. They were second largest migrant group after the Italians (Willcox 1931, 473).
Why did so many Jews emigrate from Eastern and Central Europe where they had lived for centuries? This region was very hostile to the Jews and therefore the liberal and young country such as the USA would be an excellent country for escape. By the way, even the Jews that were American citizens experienced problems in Russia. This is why they called for breaking the Russian-American treaty of 1832 (Marcus 1996, 296). In Russia, there were strict job restrictions that led to chronic unemployment. What is more, there was a lot of violence boosted by propaganda (Forbes et al., 2). In Germany and France, two dominating countries in Europe, Jews had very few chances to become active members of society. In Contesting the categories: Jews and government racial classification in the United States (2005), Eric Goldstein writes that in Germany there was a high level of racial anti-Semitism and in France Jewish people also faced great racial problems (Goldstein 2005, 82). Migration to the USA, Canada or Argentina was considered by many Jewish people as the best alternative.
Though, in the USA the first generations of Jewish people also had to live in very harsh conditions. They lived in large cities in the East of the USA and in general they were unskilled. 544,390 Jewish people were industrially occupied in 1899-1914 (Willcox 1931, 499). Most of them worked in industrial groups that included clothing, building and furnishing, machines and metals (Wilcox 1931, 502). Due to rapid industrialization, these industrial groups provided people with very tough jobs. In The Jew in the American World (2009) Marcus writes about working Jewish women that “live and labor under conditions inimical to health and happiness” (Marcus 1996, 298). They had to work 10-14 hours a day and skip vital religious practices. For example, Sabbath is considered to be a holy day by the Jews, but in the early XX century, Jews had to work whenever they were told (Marcus 1996, 298). There were occasional strikes that brought some positive changes. For example, in 1910 there was a very large strike of cloak makers in New York City. As a result, the men and women received the right to work fifty hours a week (Markus 1996, 322). By 1910, 50% of Jewish people worked in factories and 30% worked in trade (Markus 1996, 322). The majority of immigrants were poor, but they were able to help their children get education and have better opportunities in life.
Taking into account rapid increase in the number of Jewish and other immigrants, the USA tried to introduce restriction policies that would control migration. Moreover, at the beginning of the XX century, a lot of Americans started to question if “the Jews were truly white” (Goldstein 2005, 84). On the contrary, Jews wanted to be accepted in the American society as much as before. Some leading figures, including Jacob Schiff and Louis Marshall, argued that there was no Jewish racial identity and the emphasis had to be put on the issue of faith (Goldstein 2005, 85). This approach was especially important in 1909-1910 when the United States Immigration Commission introduced the Dictionary of Races and People that had to be used for the purpose of restricting immigration. For example, Syrians were classified as Mongolians and as a result they could not be naturalized in the USA that usually welcomed white Europeans. For the Jews it was an alarming moment, because they were often associated with the Middle Eastern people (Goldstein 2005, 86). The flow of immigrants from Eastern Europe was significantly cut by 1924. So Jews had to negotiate the issue of their racial status in order not to be excluded from “white America” and prevent possible racial problems that Jews faced in such countries as Germany and Austria.
In the USA, Jewish interest groups had plenty of freedom to ensure that social policies that were popular in Germany would not be applied in the USA. In 1943, immigration officials stopped to use category “Hebrews”. By the 1950s, Jews were actively integrated in the American society. At the end of the XX century they were counted as undifferentiated whites (Goldstein 2005, 96). Nevertheless, despite the fact that American Jews were well-integrated in the American white society, there were many Jewish people that were worrying about the risk of losing the status of “oppressed minority”. (Goldstein 2005, 97).
Finally, some experts thought that American society discriminated the Jews after the end of the World War II. For example, in the article Reconsidering the Rosenbergs: Symbol and Substance in Second Generation American Jewish Consciousness (1988), Deborah Moore wrote that Jewish people were discriminated in the USA and could not have independent political views. She focused on the trial of the Rosenbergs and Sobell that told U.S. nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. Moore wrote that The Rosenberg case “helped to make opposition to Communism a criterion of Jewish communal membership” and “created a no-win situation for Jewish liberals (Moore 1988, 26). As a result, in her opinion U.S. Jews became more dependent on the existing political system and are less powerful than before.
In conclusion, American Jews quickly integrated into American society. In the USA, they found a shelter that would protect them from racial and religious discrimination that was present in Europe and Russia in the XIX and XX centuries. At first, Jews were unskilled and worked in manufacturing. However, several decades later they became a part of American middle class and greatly contributed to the development of American science, economy and other areas. There was no consensus among the Jews whether to associate “Jewishness” with race or religion. There was a period in the first half of the XX century when Jews were categorized as “Hebrews”, but now they are categorized as “Undifferentiated Whites”. According to Pew Research Center (2013), the number of Jews that are atheist or agnostic is gradually rising, which means that in the future belonging to the Jewish community will be associated with direct Jewish ancestry or upbringing rather than having particular religion (Pew Research Center 2013 Survey of U.S. Jews).
Bibliography
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