James Arnett Friesen Press 384 pages, hardcover, softcover, and ebook
Reviewed by Emily Mernin
It may be hard for modern readers to imagine Manhattan as a rural island or New York City, now home to over eight million, as “a mere smudge along the shore far across the bay.” It might be difficult, too, for anyone who has travelled through New Jersey — the most tightly packed state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — to picture it as it once was: a sparsely populated British colony of rolling hills, farmland, and small villages.
This year marks the semiquincentennial of the start of the American Revolution, the brutal eight-year war that resulted in independence from Great Britain. Much of the conflict unfolded in Philadelphia and in what are now the five boroughs of New York, plus the verdant land between the two cities: the Garden State. In his second novel, The Monmouth Manifesto, James Arnett immerses readers in this landscape as he follows two yeoman farmers who enlist to fight as Loyalists.
Arnett’s plot and characters are drawn entirely from historical accounts, all of which are refer enced in his epilogue, afterword, and appendix; he changes few names and dates. The narrative begins with Richard Lippincott in early July 1776 at a Quaker meeting house in Shrewsbury, on the “northeastern coastal plain.” Described as “even- featured, lean, and about five-foot-nine,” the thirty- one-year-old listens intently to a discussion of “the current chaotic conditions of the Province of New Jersey”— specifically the spreading power of George Washington’s Continental Army. One of the meeting’s elders rattles off James and Richard fight side by side in the Battle of Staten Island in August 1777 and become unexpectedly close, even if James is “one of those polished arrogant Anglicans” and Richard is “one of those prickly sanctimonious Dissenters.” As the years pass — and their home lives feel increasingly distant — they influence each other greatly. Despite a series of rebel advances and London’s declining interest in its restless colonies, they help each other stay loyal to the cause. In 1781, after he learns of Maggie’s death, Richard rents a room for himself and Esther in Manhattan, where most of the Loyalists in the region have taken refuge. Although charting the moral evolution of multiple characters, Arnett zeroes in especially on Richard’s slow acceptance of bloodshed, military life, and revenge.
In 1782, Richard’s eventual comfort with violence culminates in his desire to person ally execute the rebel captain Joshua “Jack” Huddy. Richard organizes the prisoner of war’s hanging without the proper orders — a dangerous decision that surprises himself, Esther, and even James (who later resettles in Nova Scotia). The unwarranted murder of Huddy enrages the Patriots. They write the Monmouth Manifesto, a document “demanding that Washington retaliate” by executing someone on the British side. The future president selects a young officer, Charles Asgill, who (as in reality) ultimately sails back to London after six months of imprisonment.
Arnett’s rendering of this dramatic event, which came to be remembered as the Asgill Affair, is suggestive of the futile desperation of the British and Loyalist forces toward the end of the war, along with the self- abandonment required to commit senseless violence. I grew up in A hillside town in Essex county, recent advancements of the rebel cause, including an attempt to establish a “so-called State” and a “Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.” He then asks a question that rings throughout the novel: “How do we pacifists withstand the demands of a violent society?”
For Arnett, the short answer seems to be that they can’t. Within weeks of this gathering, Richard abandons his 100-acre farm “with its many saltwater marshes and estuaries,” his wife, Esther, and their daughter, Maggie, to join the Skinners, a volunteer regiment forming on Staten Island. Arnett writes long, reflective passages on Richard’s internal struggle to reconcile his peace- loving religious views with his new-found commitment to serve the Crown. After a failed attempt to challenge his slave-owning bunkmate, James Moody, Richard thinks, “Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a Friend. Not everyone is ”just a few kilometres west of Newark, facing the ever- changing Manhattan skyline. When I go back to visit, I inevitably drive past the many strip malls of Galloping Hill Road (down which the British retreated during the Battle of Springfield in 1780), catch the eastbound commuter train in Morristown (where Washington’s army headquarters were located), and run along the Palisades — a thirty- two- kilometre stretch of steep cliffs — near Fort Lee (where Thomas Paine composed much of The American Crisis).
Over the last 250 years, these places, like the notion of patriotism, have changed profoundly. It is compelling to find them reimagined here, as part of a richly drawn backdrop for a book about those on “the wrong side of history” (as the cover copy reads). In revisiting this chapter of civil strife, Arnett reminds his readers how careful we must be with what enthralls, ensnares, and enrages us.
The first pages of On This Ground engage the reader in the spiritual identity of children seeking an understanding about life in the world into which they were born. It is also an eyewitness account about how Newark became ‘the worst city in America’ in the 1960s. The first pages of this book provide an historical understanding of Newark but also of cities throughout New Jersey and the United States.
The reflections on education at St. Benedict Prep have value regarding an understanding of the core values, purpose, mission, and vision of all schools. Every teacher will find lessons in the passion and dedication of the faculty who are committed to caring, serving, and teaching. By Page 21, I was reliving the movie of “Sister Act” regarding the passion of nuns serving the people of Los Angeles. Also, my memories of “Welcome Back Kotter”, “Abbot Elementary”, “School of Rock”, “Mr. Holland’s Opus”, “Stand and Deliver”, “Dead Poet’s Society”, and “Up the Down Staircase” each flashed across my mind as I began reading On This Ground! It was an amazing flashback to my own experiences as a teacher.
Chapter 2 is the historical account of the 1967 Newark riots. In this chapter we learn of the German immigrant population that came to Newark in the 19th century, the dominance of the beer industry, the migration in the 1920’s to Newark from the South, and the flight to the suburbs that came with interstate highways and airports. It is one of the best descriptive accounts of continuity and change over time of an American city because of its conciseness and accuracy.
The account of the riots is important for the story of St. Benedict’s Prep School but also for every resident in New Jersey to understand and synthesize. The riots left 26 people dead and 700 injured. Entire blocks were destroyed with property damage totaling $10 million or about $100 million in today’s money. Over 1,400 residents were arrested. Teenage unemployment was about 50%. The white landlords and store owners moved out of Newark to the suburbs and local taxes to fund the essential services and public schools disappeared. The pain of the “Long hot summer of 1967” continued for years. The local government had limited authority and resources, the state government formed the Lilley Commission which identified social, political, and economic issues to be the underlying causes for the riots, and the Kerner Commission led to a national conversation about race and poverty, concluding that in the United States we had two separate and unequal societies.
We walk through the halls of St. Benedict’s Prep with Anthony DePalma to the Shanley Gym where the voices of students from the past and present are heard. Everyone who reads On This Ground will discover the power of love in the culture of this school, the importance of empowering students to make decisions, and how a cohesive community unites and energizes young scholars and athletes. When teachers care and listen to their students, everyone works toward the same goal. Through situations involving cheating, vaping, and texting inappropriate messages, Anthony DePalma guides us through the steps that make a difference in the lives of students; even those who are resistant.
The stories of the hardships of students, disciplinary decisions, the integration of girls from a small Roman Catholic school in neighboring Elizabeth, helping families with limited financial resources, and prayers for healing are not unique to St. Benedict’s. The strategies of how the faculty and headmaster handled these situations is unique. St. Benedict’s connects students and teachers as a community of learners. Anthony DePalma explicitly illustrates the dedication of the educators at St. Benedict’s in an environment where teachers are ‘called’ to serve, even though their college education may not include preparation for urban schools. Other schools will find value in learning how the daily morning faculty meeting discusses the needs of students, the importance of the ‘convocation’ that gathers students together with opportunities for leadership, the overnight experience in the mountains that brings the students together, and how problem-solving includes conversations between students, parents, and administrators.
Beyond the journey through the halls and classrooms are the insights into the lives of young children facing the addictive behaviors of parents, injuries from gun wounds, foster care homes, temporary living conditions, food insecurity, and unemployment. The crisis in our schools and cities is not part of the evening news or the discussions around the dinner table, office, or places of worship. Illiteracy is a crisis in America and perhaps this book will awaken interest.
In New Jersey, 3% of high school students drop out of school by their sophomore year in high school. Source
In New Jersey, 437,000 students (26%) are receiving supplemental food daily. Source
Approximately 1/3 of students in New Jersey are living with single parents or their parents are in prison, rehabilitation, or are unemployed. Source
In New York City, 45% of the students are ‘chronically absent.’ Source
17% of third through eighth graders in the United States are chronically absent because of mental health issues. Many are from suburban homes and excellent school districts. Source
Examine the data (2023) from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis below: Source
On This Ground engages readers to think about the moral and spiritual poverty that is in our country. Towards the end of the book there is an account of a freshman girl who loved to dance but had been disadvantaged in many ways. She overcame several obstacles in her persistence to establish the first cheerleading team at St. Benedict’s. It is a story of moral and spiritual strength and the power of perseverance and determination. The stories of alumni, Anthony Badger, Bob Brennan, and Leon McBurrows remind us that life is challenging because we are human and our humanity is complex.
As I am reading the words of Anthony DePalma, I am thinking of the children who are disconnected from reality. I am also thinking of the 14-year-old freshman entering high school in September 2026 who will only be age 28 in the year 2040. The message for me in On This Ground is the importance of teaching about character, kindness, self-esteem, decision-making, and personal identity. The institutions for helping children and their families with these lessons are our local schools and places of worship. The importance of teachers, clergy, custodians, crossing guards, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, coaches, are essential to connecting young people to a productive life.
America is faced with a crisis of illiteracy and the adage that schools teach reading, writing, and arithmetic is for a different time in our history. The challenges of artificial intelligence, substances, obesity, food insecurity, a warmer climate, and what we spend our money on, are overwhelming!
The story of St. Benedict’s Preparatory School provides optimism and hope. The links below are videos about the story in On This Ground.
Lesson Activity by Hank Bitten, NJCSS Executive Director
It is important for students to understand the constitutional procedures for the transfer of power in the event of the death or physical or mental incapacity of the president. The 25th amendment has been invoked three times since its ratification in 1967. Section 2 was invoked twice, and Section 3 was invoked once in 1981.
1973 Resignation of V.P. Spiro Agnew (R) when both houses approved Gerald Ford (R) as Vice-President
1974 Resignation of President Richard Nixon when V.P. Gerald Ford (R) became President and both houses approved Nelson Rockefeller (R) as Vice-President.
1981 Surgery for President Ronald Reagan following a gunshot wound.
Essential Question: Does the 25th Amendment provide a transition of presidential power from one person to another without being challenged?
Read Section 2 of the 25th Amendment and discuss the following scenarios:
Section 2
“Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.”
Scenario A:President Trump passes unexpectedly, and Vice-President J.D. Vance becomes President under Section 1 of the 25th Amendment.
Who should President Vance nominate as the new Vice-President? (Member of Congress, Governor, Cabinet Secretary, someone from the media, business executive, etc.)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (Since Rep. Johnson is not able to vote for himself, the Republican majority is 219 with 218 votes required for a majority).
If Rep. Mike is not elected by the House, would the election of someone from the Democratic Party be accepted?
119th Congress, Senate (2025–2027) 51 votes needed for a majority.
119th Congress, House (2025–2027) 218 votes needed for a majority.
Majority Party: Republicans (220 seats)
Minority Party: Democrats (215 seats)
Other Parties: 2 Independents (Caucus with Democrats)
Total Seats: 435
Scenario B:President Trump passes unexpectedly between the 2026 Midterm Elections and the meeting of the new Congress on January 3, 2027.and Vice-President J.D. Vance becomes President under Section 1 of the 25th Amendment.
Who should President Vance nominate as the new Vice-President if the Democratic Party controls either the House or the Senate?
Should the current Congress (House and Senate) that was meeting at the time the Vice-President became President continue until a Vice-President was selected or should the newly elected Congress vote on the candidate?
Scenario C: Who should President Vance nominate as the new Vice-President if the Democratic Party controls both the House and the Senate?
Is there a Republican who would be acceptable to a majority of Democratic representatives in both houses?
What would happen if President Vance refused to nominate a Vice-President?
If we do not have a Vice-President and if the Speaker of the House is a Democrat but the Senate Majority Leader a Republican, should the person next in line to succession as president be the Speaker of the House as current law states or should the presidency go to the Majority Leader in the Senate who is from the same political party as the President?
Scenario D: If there is no Vice-President, would it be possible under Section 4 to declare that President Vance was unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office? (in the event of a physical, emotional, or mental incapacity.)
Section 4:
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
What ‘other body’ should Congress select?
If the Speaker of the House is a Democrat and the person next in line to become Acting President, could this be challenged if the Majority Leader in the Senate was a Republican (same party as President Vance)?
If a Democrat becomes Acting President, could this person fire all members of the Vance Cabinet and replace them with new officers consistent with his/her political party? (Democrat) Would this be challenged?
“In a purely legal sense, as Acting President, the Vice President can employ all the powers and tools of the office of the president. Historians have characterized the Acting President as playing “a critical role as decisionmaker,” and “tak[ing] care of the day-to-day business” of the White House. The Acting President has the constitutional authority to “move the troops, report on the State of the Union, propose a new budget, send judicial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, remove the secretary of the treasury, do virtually all the things that presidents do. He might even prepare to control his national party apparatus and to secure its presidential nomination.” (Page 44)
“Senator Bayh responded by noting that the Vice President does “not have the office of President but that of Acting President. He does not get the full powers and duties of the office of President unabated. He is Acting President.”
Setting this symbolic distinction aside, the Acting President would be constitutionally empowered to conduct the same acts as the President. In the floor debate in the Senate, for instance, Senator Bayh expressed his belief that the Vice President acting as President would be able to fire and appoint cabinet officials. When Senator Hart expressed concern that a Vice President acting as President would remove cabinet members to “consolidate[] his position” as Acting President, Senator Bayh admitted that this concern was legitimate, but declared, “we do not want a Vice President who is acting in good cause, say, for example, in a 3-year term of office, being unable to reappoint Cabinet members who may have died or resigned.” (Page 71)
Scenario 5: President Vance continually frustrates both Houses of Congress with a nomination for Vice-President.
According to the following statement from the Yale Law Reader’s Guide, could President Vance be impeached? From Yale University
“Depending on the circumstances, actions taken by the President or other officials to frustrate the Twenty-Fifth Amendment process may constitute an impeachable offense.” (page 8)
The 25th Amendment
Section 1
In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
Section 2
Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
Section 3
Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
Section 4
Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.
Review of Student Research for Community Change: Tools to Develop Ethical Thinking and Analytic Problem Solving
by William Tobin and Valerie Feit, 2020. Teachers College Press, 127 pages.
Review by: Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.
This new text provides an explanation of a program – and a plan – for getting high school students involved in important hands-on research right in their communities. The two authors have become experts in encouraging young people to start on research early – not waiting for college. Despite more traditional approaches of letting students wait to become upperclassmen in college, the authors learned to forge ahead and assume students could do this work.
William Tobin is a research fellow with the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University. The program explained in this book is an example of the community work Tobin and his students have been doing to help their neighbors. Valerie Feit is co-director of school counseling for Rye Neck, New York schools. This program has been used successfully in three different applications at Duke.
The authors talk in terms of “tools” for coming up with research problems and questions, plans for finding out information, and guidance in making recommendations to solve the problems (pp. 23-24). I think of this book’s content in terms of methods for approaching the work. This looks like a method, with many parts, with rules, with suggestions, and with potential.
The authors provide tools for this “method” of teaching and learning they hope will be applicable in other settings. They have already had students complete research projects using this method. They use a qualitative approach, overall, in their research. However, they do not stress this fact in the book. Interviews and protocols to conduct them ground us in qualitative approaches to getting information from people to help students – and the community ultimately — solve problems.
The method connects clearly (in terms of policy and application) to national standards in the different learning areas, plus Common Core college-ready and work-ready emphases. The method looks forward to more advanced levels of inquiry than the more traditional benchmarked studies of the past. It does this by assuming students can do more advanced and challenging work if they can see the purpose for it, the rewards for it, and the connections of it to real-life goals.
While I will not give away the content and all the goods here, I will say that this appears to be a good “method” for getting students working on purposeful projects earlier than traditionally done. Aspiring to more is always good, especially if there is a research basis telling us the method can work.
As an educator (and community member, advocate, and other roles) I have always been interested in the “why” of doing things in education. Do we respect different learning styles? Where did we as teachers “learn” to do xyz in classes? Is there a good research basis for using certain materials? Has anyone ever proven it makes sense to do abc this way? All of these kinds of questions enter my mind when I look at a new approach. I wonder if this book could work in my neighborhood. With students who need resources like a place to live? In a community not very interested in helping others in need?
The authors emphasize how they have already served communities and how they need partners and cooperation. They remind us that institutions of higher education are supposed to be helping with such endeavors (p. 111). Reminding the readers that IHEs have non-profit status because they are supposed to be assisting in important research projects in the community, the authors urge readers to seek faculty who will sign on and become excited to participate.
I would recommend this book for a couple different uses. First, I would encourage K-12 and college educators read it to see what is possible if we assume students can do more and can meet challenges. The book is important in that way. Second, I would encourage educators to attempt to use some of the tools in a mini-project to ascertain the value of the method. Then, if teachers and college researchers or others can come together to formulate a bigger project, more in-depth labor can be done. Students do the work and need guidance and advice. They need to learn about ethics and the role it plays in inquiry (pp. 12-13).
This method, overall, is another good example of the more mature and advanced kinds of ways of thinking about education for secondary students and underclassmen. As I said above, there is a clear connection to getting students ready for what comes at more advanced levels.
How to use the book in times of distance-learning? How would students find neighbors interested in participating? How would they work with other students to come up with questions? What about brainstorming? Planning?
This might be a method that calls for a hybrid approach. The majority of the discussions could occur online (p. xvii) because of the power of the Internet. This could be done especially during shared times – online meetings. Different teams of students and teachers could work on different steps or themes of the research project. However, it might be necessary to be out in the community to approach potential members and to set up some of the meetings (pp. 112-113) and the interviews. The teams could conduct the remaining work online, such as the interviews, the discussion of them and other input, the drawing of conclusions from the various input sources, the writing of recommendations for intervention (or similar activities), and the follow-up and assessment stages for the entire project.
Review of Teach, Reflect, Learn: Building Your Capacity for Success in the Classroom
by Pete Hall & Alisa Simeral. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. 2015, paper, 178 pages.
Reviewed by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.
Hall and Simeral have set forth here three major stages to helping teachers reflect on what they are doing in an effort to improve the instruction in the classroom. The authors hope to help teachers learn how to reflect on a regular basis as part of the self-assessment process in which teachers should engage. Included are lots of scenarios of teachers and their comments about why things are working—or not—in their classrooms.
As in most of my reviews, I try to not give away all the content. Here, I will list the names of the nine main chapters of the book: If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher; Reflections on Self-Reflection; Reflective Self-Assessment Tool; The Continuum of Self-Reflection; The Unaware Stage: What Does Unaware Mean, Anyway?; The Conscious Stage: Is the Knowing-Doing Gap Real?; The Action Stage: What Happens When Art and Science Collide?; and The Refinement Stage: Smoothing Out the Rough Edges.
Having attended a Jesuit institution for my Ph.D. in Education, I will have to admit I am fully aware of reflection as a major component of the teaching-improvement process. In most all of my courses, I had to reflect on what I had said, or written, or taught, or done. It was a very interesting reminder of the reflection process many successful and hard-working good educators already use in one form or another.
Most good teachers will admit they are always trying to improve their skills, whether it is coming up with better ways to explain a phenomenon or inventing better ways to let students come to their understanding of how a process works. Good teachers probably apply it to their writing and their research and their service, also. At least that is what the literature says.
Becoming more efficient is important, and this book does have some interesting hints about looking at learning situations with different lenses. I recommend the book as a sort of self-study book, especially for teachers who want to consider some alternatives to learning about new methods or new materials. Sometimes it has to do more with looking directly at how we as individuals do our work. Once we have considered that, we can look outward.
I would recommend this text also in group settings where there are several different short paperbacks and small groups get to choose a book to discuss. The readings in this and similar shorter texts can be a good starting point for considering what it is we are doing in the classroom. Enjoyable and fruitful also are the stories of what other teachers use for methods and materials.
In a recent professional development session I worked on, several of the teachers said, “We never have enough time to talk to each other, simply about what we are doing in our classrooms.” I think this is a good message for principals and others charged with PD and other sessions for teachers. Helping them to reflect can be facilitated by books like this one by Hall and Simeral.
Four books that have influenced my teaching of U.S. history are: the volumes in the Jefferson Papers Project, The Life of Henry Adams, The Life of Arthur Schlesinger, and Our Fragile Freedoms. These books have left a profound influence on me because each of them included a perspective of 50 years or more.
Eric Foner’s Our Fragile Freedoms is a series of selected documents and book reviews that he has authored over 250 years of our history. It is a collection of human stories in addition to documents, perspectives, historiography, and scholarly insights. In my reading I discovered new information and perspectives about enslaved persons, laborers, immigrants, and women. I have also met Eric Foner, our lives share a similar chronology of the second half of the 20th century and the first 25 years of the 21st century. Just when I thought I had mastered everything that needs to be taught in high schools, colleges, and in public discussions, I discovered somethings that are new and important in his book.
“Our Fragile Freedoms gathers together nearly sixty book reviews and opinion pieces I have written over the past quarter century, Originally published in venues such as the New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, The Nation, and The New York Times, they reflect a period of remarkable creativity among American historians but also intense controversy over the teaching, writing and public presentation of history. The book examines history as refracted through the prism of some of the most influential recent works of scholarship, while at the same time shedding light on my own evolution as an historian.” (Introduction, page xv)
The insights into the U.S. history curriculum are helpful to teachers who want to engage their students in investigating history and discussing the concept of freedom. Here are some examples:
1.Colonial America:“In South Carolina and Georgia, however, the disruption of the War for independence produced not a weakening of commitment to slavery, but the demand that the Atlantic slave trade be reopened. At the insistence of these states, the Constitutional Convention of 1787 forbade Congress from abolishing the importation of slaves until 1808. Given this window of opportunity, South Carolina brought in tens of thousands of new slaves, further reinforcing the African presence in the low country Black society.” (page 22)
2.President Washington:“Thompson (Mary Thompson, author of “The Only Unavoidable Subject of Regret: George Washington, Slavery, and the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon”, 2019) offers various explanations for Washington’s refusal to speak or act publicly against slavery. She points out that freeing his slaves would have meant financial disaster for his family. Like other Virginia planters, Washington was chronically in debt, largely because of his taste for luxury goods imported from Britain. Indeed, in 1789 he had to borrow money to pay for his journey to New York where his inauguration as the first president was to take place.” (page 35)
3. Fugitive Slave Law:“The first arrest under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 took place in New York-a city whose economic fortunes were closely tied to the cotton trade, and whose political establishment was decidedly pro-southern. On September 16, 1850, eight days after President Millard Fillmore signed the measure, two deputy U.S. marshals arrested James Hamlet at his job as a porter in a local store. Hamlet had escaped from Baltimore two years earlier and settled in Williamsburg, a Brooklyn village with a small Black population, along with his wife and three children, all born in Maryland.” (page 53)
4. Emancipation Proclamation: “’I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor colonization,” Lincoln said in a message to Congress less than a month before he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Oakes (Professor James Oakes, CUNY) calls Lincoln’s August 1862 meeting with Black leaders (not including Douglass), where he urged them to support colonization, “bizarre,” and explains it as an effort to “make emancipation more palatable to white racists.” And he notes, Douglass reacted with one of his most bitter criticisms of the president, “Mr. Lincoln,” he wrote, “assumes the language and arguments of an itinerant colonization lecturer shows all his inconsistencies, his pride of race and blood, his contempt for Negroes and his canting hypocrisy. (page 72)
5. Reconstruction:“Grant’s contemporaries recognized the Civil War as an event of international significance. One hundred and fifty years after the conflict began, the meanings they ascribed to it offer a useful way if outlining why it was so pivotal in our own history. The Civil War changed the nature of warfare, gave rise to an empowered nation-state, vindicated the idea of free labor, and destroyed the modern world’s greatest slave society. Each of these outcomes laid the foundation for the country we live in today. But as with all historical events, each outcome carried with it ambiguous, even contradictory, consequences.” (page 85)
As teachers, we need to understand the big picture of historical decisions and events over time. This is why it is important for students to learn about continuity and change as one of the core skills of our discipline. Our Fragile Freedoms helped me to grasp the complexity of the concepts of freedom and equality that social studies teachers introduce in kindergarten.
An important article and commentary in the book is “Everyday Violence in the Jim Crow South.” (pp. 201-210) This review of By Hands Now Known: Jim Crow’s Legal Executioners, by Margaret A. Burnham, New York Review of Books, April 6, 2023, provides specific examples of the abuse of power by people in local and state government against innocent citizens.
“In Westfield, a town near Birmingham, a female white clerk at a local store, claiming that a Black customer, William Daniel, had insulted her, called the police. When an officer arrived, he almost immediately shot and killed the alleged offender, even though, as Burnham laconically remarks, Daniel had committed no crime: ‘even in Alabama, there was no law against, ‘insulting a white woman.’” (p. 203)
Another commentary that engaged my interest as a high school teacher was “Tulsa: Forgetting and Remembering.”(pp. 211-220) The information in the Review of The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice by Scott Ellsworth in the London Review of Books, September 9, 2011, provides new insights and perspectives to this horrific tragedy that began with a minor encounter between two teenagers. Scott Ellswoth is from Tulsa and became interested in this race riot in his research for a high school history paper. He pursued his passion of this massacre as a college student at Reed College, and throughout his adult life. The discussion about the importance of local research has relevance to the teaching of history and its relevance to project-based learning.
The review of Half American: The Epic Story of African Americans Fighting World War II at Home and Abroad by Matthew F. Delmont and An Army Afire: How the U.S. Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era by Beth Bailey 2023) left me feeling uncomfortable. I think many teachers emphasize the role of the Tuskegee Airmen in teaching World War II and follow it up with a five-minute talk on President Truman’s Executive Order to embrace “equality of treatment and opportunity” in the military regardless of race, religion, and national origin. Because of my ignorance in this area, I never included examples of Jim Crow discrimination and the race problem in our armed forces. Our Fragile Freedoms provides graphic examples. (pp. 232-243)
In the middle of the book there are some of the most important insights and perspectives for teachers of 20th century United States History. They have a direct relationship to what students are thinking about today as they listen to or witness events that are challenging the values of liberty, equality and social justice. They offer teachers critical questions of inquiry regarding the continuity and change of America’s core values from the Declaration of Independence, Reconstruction Era, and Civil Rights movement. Allow me to summarize from examples on the New Deal and Civil Rights era from pages 243-267.
“We will never know precisely why Parks refused to leave her seat when ordered to do so, her decision was not premeditated but neither was it completely spontaneous. Perhaps it was because an all-white jury in Mississippi had just acquitted the murderers of Emmett Till, a Black teenager who had allegedly whistled at a white woman. Perhaps the reason was that she had inadvertently boarded a bus driven by the same driver who had evicted her twelve years earlier. Parks knew that talk of a boycott was in the air. In any event, in the wake of her arrest the boycott began.” (p. 248)
In the review of Riding for Freedom, teachers might ask if the foreign policy of the Kennedy Administration on the Cold War was mutually exclusive from the domestic policy of integration and racial justice. Many American presidents have faced challenging decisions regarding their promise for domestic reforms and unexpected international conflicts. Kennedy experienced this in his first year as president.
“Certainly, the photographs that flashed across the world embarrassed the White House. But the conflict with the Soviets also inspired deep distrust of any movement that included critics of American foreign policy. After a telephone conversation in which he urged Martin Luther King Jr. to restrain the riders, Robert Kennedy remarked to an aide, ‘I wonder whether they have the best interest of their country at heart.’” (pp. 253-254).
“The continuing distortion of the period (Reconstruction) by historians raised a troubling question, King had long identified the movement with core American values inherited from the nation’s founding. But what, in fact, were the nation’s deepest values? All men are created equal? Or something more sinister, exemplified by Reconstruction’s violent overthrow? King had originally believed, he told the journalist David Halberstam, that American society could be reformed through many small changes. Now, he said, he felt ‘quite differently,’ ‘I think you’ve got to have a reconstruction of the entire society, a revolution of values.’ Was the movement the fulfilment of American values or their repudiation?” (pp. 263-264)
These excerpts are only appetizers for the full meal that is within each review and the entire book. As students think about and debate the civil rights era, they gain an understanding of the civil rights movement, its brutality, its injustice, its inequality, and its struggle. Unfortunately, too many students only know one sentence from Martin Luther King’s speech, “I have a dream….” Teachers should have students read or watch the entire speech.
“We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protests to degenerate into physical violence. . . . The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. . . .
We cannot walk alone. And as we walk we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
The genius of this book is that each chapter offers a new insight, a scholarly perspective, and a valuable lesson. I learned something new about integration, voting, the censorship of speech, the Chicago riots in 1968, and progressivism. The section on History, Memory, Historians is a must read for every pre-service teacher and every social studies teacher. The lessons here about historical omissions, social and intellectual history, and the lessons of history. Our Fragile Freedoms should shape the generation of social studies/history teachers who will be teaching students in the second quarter of the 21st century!
In this lesson, students learn about the bonds that unite Jewish Americans as an ethnic group, and the rich diversity that exists within the community. In addition, students will deepen their understanding of the multifaceted nature of identity across groups.
Essential Questions
● How are Jewish Americans an ethnic group?
● What visible and invisible components make up each person’s unique identity?
● How do the multiple components that make up identity help us understand the diversity of Jewish Americans?
● What are key positive and negative experiences of Jewish Americans both historically and today?
Learning Outcomes Students will be able to:
● Explain how Jewish Americans are an ethnic group that is connected through a shared history, ancestry, culture, religion, sacred texts, and more.
● Understand that Jewish Americans are remarkably diverse in appearance, skin color, ethnic subgroup, and religious practice.
● Analyze the visible and invisible components of individual and group identities and make connections to their personal identities.
● Develop a better understanding of other people, cultures, and ethnic groups, how all groups have commonalities and differences within them, and the parallels that exist between Jewish Americans and other groups.
● Determine central ideas or information from primary and secondary sources.
● IAmJewish:PersonalReflectionsInspiredbytheLastWordsofDanielPearl, Ruth Pearl and Judea Pearl eds., Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing, 2004. (9 excerpts)
HANDOUTS
Identity Iceberg document, availableonline
Jewish American Diversity Fact Sheet, availableonline
Jewish Americans: Identity, History, and Experience Fact Sheet, availableonline
Lesson Plan
1. INTRODUCTION
Introduce the topic and emphasize that this lesson examines what unites the Jewish American community, as well as its diversity. While individual identity is personal, Jewish American group identity is based on ties of history, culture, ancestry, religion, language, celebrations, communal and familial traditions, common values, and a sense of a common ethnic peoplehood.
Further explain that this lesson explains some of the challenges Jewish Americans faced historically and continue to face today, including prejudice, discrimination, and antisemitism. It also explains experiences of acculturation and assimilation, and associated benefits and losses. Ultimately, students will be introduced to Jewish American history to deepen understanding of Jewish American experiences over time and Jewish American contributions to American society.
2. IDENTITY ICEBERG ACTIVITY
Provide students with the identity iceberg worksheet and explain that only a small part of an iceberg is visible above the waterline, while most of the iceberg’s mass lies below the waterline and is invisible. Tell students, that like an iceberg, some parts of identity are visible to others, while other parts are invisible.
Watch the video: “Diverse Jewish Stories: Jonah” (3:08 minutes) and ask students what they can determine about Jonah’s identity from what they viewed.
Explain that they are going to investigate various components of an individual’s identity. For this activity, students may choose to focus on their own identity, an imaginary student identity, or a celebrity’s identity. Emphasize that it is optional to use themselves as the subject in this activity, and that no one should disclose private information unless they would like to do so.
Either in small groups or as a whole group, students can brainstorm categories that will be used on the identity iceberg worksheet, or you can share suggested categories below, that include visible, sometimes visible, and invisible aspects of identity.
Suggestedcategories:
● Gender
● Race
● Ethnic appearance
● Visible religious signs: religious head coverings (kippah, yarmulke, hijab, turban); tzitzit (Jewish ritual fringes); cross, Star of David necklace, kirpan (Sikh religious knife), other)
● Age (child, middle schooler, teen, young adult, middle age, elderly, etc.)
● Language(s) (accent, second language, regional dialect, formality of speech)
● Religion/level of religious practice/spirituality/philosophy
● Family’s national origin/immigrant/refugee/forced migration
● Nationality/citizenship
● Violence, trauma, or intergenerational trauma
● Activity, passion, or a job that is an important part of identity
● Other cultural or group or family aspect of identity
With the list of identities categories handy, ask students to write in categories of identity on a blank identity iceberg worksheet that are:
● usually visible to others above the water line, in the top third
● sometimes visible, and sometimes invisible, close to the waterline
● usually invisible to others, in the bottom third of the iceberg
Ask for student volunteers to share their identity icebergs with the class. Identify commonalities and differences across the student examples.
MakingConnections
Think about groups whose identities are sometimes visible and sometimes invisible. What happens when members of these groups publicly express their identities?
The following are two options for an activity centered on learning about Jewish American diversity.
Option A: Arrange students into small groups. Provide each group with the Jewish American Diversity Fact Sheet (2 pages) and review the contents together. Instruct the groups to cut the document so that each fact is its own strip of paper. Next, have the students put the facts into groupings that they think go together, encouraging them to have no more than six groups. Once the facts have been grouped, have the students provide a title for each of the groupings. They then should review each grouping and revise until they are satisfied with their sorting. Finally, have each group share the titles they came up with, the facts they included with that title, and explanation as to how they arrived at the title and the facts that they have associated with it.
Option B: Have students read the Jewish American Diversity Fact Sheet (2 pages).
In small groups or as a class, have students discuss and respond to the following questions:
● In what ways are Jewish Americans a diverse ethnic group?
o Suggestedresponses: racial and physical appearance, ethnic subgroup, language, food and cultural traditions, religious observance, origins, etc.
● What bonds Jewish Americans across diversity?
JEWISHAMERICANS:IDENTITY,HISTORY,ANDEXPERIENC
o Suggestedresponses: shared Jewish history, ancestry, values, sacred texts, religious rituals, traditions, celebrations, culture, and a sense of common peoplehood.
● What is meant by the term “Jewish peoplehood”?
o Suggestedresponses: Jewish peoplehood refers to the idea that all Jews are connected to one another across time and geography and share a common destiny. Other identity categories fail to capture the complexity of Jewish group identity.
● What did you learn that surprised you?
o Suggestedresponses:Jews are incredibly diverse and are multiracial. There is not one way of being Jewish, but many, and there is no single physical appearance that characterizes what Jews look like. At the same time, Jews feel a strong sense of common peoplehood.
● Where have Jewish Americans come from?
o Suggestedresponses: Jewish Americans have ancestry from many different countries, and some Jewish Americans have lived in the U.S. for centuries. Many Jewish Americans are of Eastern and Central European Jewish descent. There is a significant Middle Eastern Jewish population in many parts of the U.S. (from Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen). Jewish Americans also have roots in North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), East Africa (Ethiopia), Central Asia (Bukharan Jews from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), Central and South America, and beyond. Regardless of recent origins, Jewish Americans, like Jews everywhere, are connected to each other and to their ancestral homeland of Israel; Judaism highlights this connection in daily prayers and Jewish holidays.
MakingConnections
In what ways are other American ethnic groups diverse? Consider the diversity among other American ethnic groups and pan-ethnic groups (groups with origins in a large diverse region). Consider diversity among African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino/a Americans, and Native Americans.
o Suggestedresponses: racial and physical appearance, language, food and cultural traditions, religious observance, origins, ethnic subgroups, etc.
The following additional videos and texts can be viewed by students to provide examples of Jewish American racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, and may help to answer the previous questions on Jewish American diversity.
● Video Series on Jewish Americans: Faces of American Jewry, is a 2021 series of 2-3 minute long videos on Jewish Americans produced by the American Jewish Committee.
● Reading: “Being Jewish in the United States,” (2 pages), Facing History and Ourselves. Judaism’s religious diversity in three short readings by three teens on their relationship to Judaism with discussion questions.
4. I AM JEWISH: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS INSPIRED BY THE LAST WORDS OF DANIEL PEARL ACTIVITY
This activity is based on excerpts from the book, IAmJewish:PersonalReflectionsInspiredbytheLastWordsofDanielPearl.
Tell students that Daniel Pearl was a Jewish American journalist, raised in California. Pearl was working as the South Asia Bureau Chief of TheWallStreetJournal, based in Mumbai, India. In early 2002, soon after 9/11, he was kidnapped and later beheaded by terrorists in Pakistan for being Jewish. After losing their son, Daniel Pearl’s parents asked a diverse group of Jews to reflect on what being Jewish means to them in memory of Pearl, reflecting on Pearl’s last words which were: “My father is Jewish, my mother is Jewish, I am Jewish.”
Divide students into small groups and assign each group to read two or three brief excerpts from IAmJewish:PersonalReflectionsInspiredbytheLastWordsofDanielPearl. Provide them with the PDFs or digital versions so that they can respond to the following prompts on the excerpts regarding individual and group identity:
1. What elements of identity does the author stress? (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)
2. Highlight or underline one key sentence or phrase from each excerpt to share with the class. 3. Why do Jews not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Ask students to share one word that jumps out on what being Jewish means to the writers and compile them in a shared visual medium for the class.
AdditionalResourceforIAmJewishActivity
The following additional video can also be viewed by students and used to answer the activity questions.
Video: “I Love Being Jewish,” (7:24 minutes) Jane Parven, high school student Jane Parven discusses her Jewish American identity, antisemitism, and goal of eliminating all forms of hate. 3/14/2018, Massachusetts
5. JEWISH AMERICANS: IDENTITY, HISTORY, AND EXPERIENCE ACTIVITY
Have students read the Jewish Americans: Identity, History, and Experience Fact Sheet (4 pages).
You may first want to explain and define the key terms from the Fact Sheet before students read it, or you may check comprehension of the following key terms during the discussion: acculturation,assimilation,racialization,WhiteSupremacy,andantisemitism.
Next, in small groups or as a class, ask students to discuss and respond to the following questions:
● What does acculturation and assimilation mean? Why do people acculturate or assimilate?
oSuggestedresponsestosecondquestion: To fit in, make friends, succeed in school, get a job, not feel different, or because after living and going to school in the new culture and language, they feel part of the dominant culture.
● What does a member of an ethnic group gain from assimilation? What does a member of an ethnic group lose from assimilation?
o Suggestedresponses: Gains: a sense of belonging, success in school and jobs, a new positive hyphenated culture and identity. Losses: lack of connection to their parents’ culture, gap between generations, loss of language, traditions, and religious practices.
● What are some of the ways Jews have been racially categorized? What does racialization mean? o Suggestedresponses: While Jews are not a racial group, they have been categorized as non-white, as the “Hebrew race,” seen by Nazis as an inferior race, seen by White Supremacists as non-white, as threatening to replace white people, and as a threat to racial purity. Racialization is when a dominant group decides another group is a separate lower race.
● What were some of the push factors for Jewish immigration in the 19th and 20th centuries? Why were Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany refused entry to the U.S.? How has immigration shaped the Jewish American experience?
o Suggestedresponses: Jews came to the U.S. as immigrants and refugees fleeing persecution, pogroms, poverty, war, and revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Anti-Jewish prejudice in the U.S. in the 1930s and U.S. immigration law prevented most Jewish refugees from being admitted during the Holocaust, dooming Jews to their deaths in Nazi-occupied Europe. Jewish immigration experiences and family histories of escaping persecution have made many Jewish Americans empathetic to the plight of other immigrant and refugee groups in the U.S. today.
● In what way(s) do you think the Holocaust shifted perceptions of Jews in American society?
o Suggestedresponses: Before the Holocaust, Jews experienced a lot of open discrimination. After learning how prejudice led to the genocide of the Holocaust, more overt forms of anti-Jewish discrimination decreased but hatred of Jews did not go away.
● Based on what we have learned about changes in how Jews have been racially categorized, what conclusions can we draw about race as a social construct?
o Suggestedresponses: If light-skinned Jews can be categorized as non-white or white, then racial categories and boundaries are socially constructed and can and do change.
● What are some of the noteworthy contributions Jewish Americans have made to American society?
o Suggestedresponses: Jews have been leaders in the labor, civil rights, feminist, and other rights movements; contributors and founders in the film industry, in American music, literature, and comedy, and in science, and medicine.
● What is antisemitism? How does anti-Jewish hate show up in different ways?
JEWISHAMERICANS:IDENTITY,HISTORY,ANDEXPERIENC
o Suggestedresponses: Antisemitism is anti-Jewish prejudice or hate. It often shows up through Holocaust or Nazi imagery that is used to intimidate or threaten Jewish students. It shows up with Jewish students being excluded from diversity discussions or allyship, or in being excluded for not disassociating themselves from Israel. It also shows up in accusations that the Jewish “race” threatens white purity. Historically, Jews faced discrimination in jobs, education, housing, and social acceptance.
MakingConnections
What parallels are there between Jewish Americans and other American ethnic groups?
o Suggested responses: Experiences of immigration and being refugees, prejudice and discrimination, assimilation and acculturation, connection to origins and traditions, contributions, and communal pride.
How have other groups responded to prejudice and discrimination?
o Suggested responses: Activism, legislation, education, ethnic pride, celebratory events, seeking representation, standing up for others experiencing discrimination.
6. CONCLUSION
In an Exit Slip, or as a group discussion, have students reflect on what they have learned in this lesson. The following questions can help guide the discussion:
1. Name some ways Jewish Americans are connected as an ethnic group, how are they internally diverse, and what you have learned about Jewish American history and experiences?
2. When you think about your individual and group identities, what are some things that connect the group, and some ways your identity reflects diversity within that group?
3. How are the experiences of Jewish Americans distinct from other groups’ experiences?
7. EXTENSION ACTIVITIES
1. Through the resources from this lesson and external research, students have been provided with detailed information on the positive impact Jewish Americans have made on society. To spotlight these contributions, have students create social media style posts that highlight three reasons Jewish Americans should be recognized and celebrated alongside other American ethnic groups, for example with Jewish American Heritage Month, celebrated in May (no actual social media accounts are needed, as this can be done using templates here , or use your own).
2. Have students conduct research about Jewish American contributions to American society and evaluate how these contributions have impacted their lives or the lives of others. Students could focus on contributions in particular fields, such as science, medicine, literature, art, music, politics, law, business, sports, entertainment, etc. Students can use people from the Jewish Americans: Identity, History, and Experience Fact Sheet or follow their own interests. Their research and discoveries can be presented in a variety of ways, such as a multimedia presentation, a digital or traditional poster, a speech, a written biography, etc. Students can use people from the Jewish Americans: Identity, History, and Experience Face Sheet, the Weitzman National Museum ofAmerican Jewish History Hall of Fame virtual exhibit, or follow their own interests.
3. Ask students to choose one aspect of their own identity and write a one-paragraph reflection on why that aspect of their identity is important to them. Please complete: “I am (chooseanaspectofidentity) because …, and it is important to me because ….”
Jewish Americans: Identity, History, and Experience Fact Sheet
Jewish American Diversity Fact Sheet
Jewish Americans have come to the United States from all over the world and have brought a rich variety of different Jewish cultural traditions with them.
The Jewish people originated about 3,000 years ago in Southwest Asia, in the land of Israel.
Jewish Americans, like Jews everywhere, feel a strong connection to each other and to the ancestral homeland of Israel. Jewish tradition and rituals reinforce these connections in many ways, from the content and direction of daily prayers to Jewish holidays. For example, Jews around the world conclude the Passover Seder with “Next year in Jerusalem.”
Jews are a distinct ethnic group connected by rich traditions, thousands of years of history, ancestry, language, and religion. Jewish American ethnic identity may be expressed through food, language, holidays, celebrations, a feeling of connectedness to other Jews (Jewish peoplehood), remembrances of historical and ancestral experiences, connections to Israel, a commitment to social justice, and cultural elements such as music, literature, art, and philosophy that are also part of Jewish life.
Jews do not fit exclusively into predefined categories, and frequently self-identify as both an ethnic group and a people.
o Jewish Americans are an ethnic group among diverse American ethnic groups.
o The concept of Jewish peoplehood means that Jews around the world are connected to each other across time and geography and share a common destiny.
There are several major Jewish ethnic subgroups:
o Mizrahi Jews are racially diverse Arabic- and Farsi-speaking Jews indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa for over 2,500 years.
o Sephardic Jews are originally Judeo-Spanish or Ladino-speaking Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal to North Africa, the Ottoman Empire, and Central and South America, beginning with Spain’s expulsion in 1492.
o Ethiopian Jews are Amharic-speaking Jews originally from Ethiopia.
o Ashkenazi Jews are or were Yiddish-speaking Eastern and Central European Jews.
Major languages and literature of Jewish expression include English, Hebrew, Arabic, Yiddish, Ladino, and Farsi. Hebrew, the language of Jewish scripture, is often a lingua franca that has united different Jewish ethnic subgroups.
The physical appearance of Jewish Americans is very diverse, and skin color can range from light skinned to dark skinned, and includes Middle Eastern Jews, African American Jews, Asian American Jews, Latino/a/x Jews, and Native American Jews. Jewish families include multiracial households and there are diverse appearances both within families and within communities.
The majority of Jewish Americans emigrated from Eastern Europe, and while their racial appearance often reflects this, there is a range of physical appearances, reflecting the movement of Jews over time and place.
For many Jews, Jewish identity is primary, but they may be classified by others based on their skin color. Therefore, Jews often experience a divergence between internal identity and external classification.
Other Jewish Americans or their families emigrated from the Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Yemen), North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco), East Africa (Ethiopia), Central Asia (Bukharan Jews from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), Central and South America, and beyond, and are of Mizrachi and Sephardic heritage.
American Judaism has a range of religious denominations, including Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and Orthodox, with a range of observances and practices. At the same time, Jews
are united by shared sacred texts, like the Torah, by celebrations, traditions, and a feeling of connection to other Jews around the world.
Jewish Americans have a wide range of opinions and beliefs about what it means to be Jewish, how Jewish identity is defined, and the extent to which they identify with the religion of Judaism.
Across Jewish denominations, ancestry marks a person as Jewish regardless of the individual’s personal level of religious observance. Traditionally, a person is considered Jewish if born to a Jewish mother. Reform Jews among others consider a person with a Jewish father to also be Jewish.
Jews consider a person who converts to Judaism, without Jewish ancestry, to be as Jewish as any other Jew.
Jews are part of the Jewish American community by birth, adoption, marriage, and by throwing their lot in with the Jewish people through conversion or being part of a Jewish family
Douglas Rushkoff is a writer, journalist, and professor of media studies. “Jews are not a tribe but an amalgamation of tribes around a single premise that human beings have a role. Judaism dared to make human beings responsible for this realm. Instead of depending on the gods for food and protection, we decided to enact God, ourselves, and to depend on one another. So out of the death cults of Mitzrayim [Egypt] came a repudiation of idolatry and a way of living that celebrated life itself. To say “l’chaim [to life]” was new, revolutionary, even naughty. It overturned sacred truths in favor of sacred living.… It’s important to me that those, who throughout our history, have attacked the Jews on the basis of blood not be allowed to redefine our indescribable process or our internally evolving civilization. We are attacked for our refusal to accept the boundaries, yet sometimes we incorporate these very attacks into our thinking and beliefs. It was Pharaoh who first used the term Am Yisrael [People of Israel] in Torah, fearing a people who might replicate like bugs and not support him in a war. It was the Spanish of the Inquisition who invented the notion of Jewish blood, looking for a new reason to murder those who had converted to Catholicism. It was Hitler, via Jung, who spread the idea of a Jewish “genetic memory” capable of instilling an uncooperative nature in even those with partial Jewish ancestry. And it was Danny Pearl’s killers who defined his Judaism as a sin of birth. I refuse these definitions. Yes, our parents pass our Judaism on to us, but not through their race, blood, or genes — it is through their teaching, their love, and their spirit. Judaism is not bestowed; it is enacted. Judaism is not a boundary; it is the force that breaks down boundaries. And Judaism is the refusal to let anyone tell us otherwise.” (pages 90–91)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court from 1993 to 2020 and advocate for women’s rights. “I say who I am in certain visible signs. The command from Deuteronomy appears in artworks, in Hebrew letters, on three walls and a table in my chambers. “Zedek, zedek, tirdof,” Justice, Justice shalt thou pursue,” these artworks proclaim; they are ever-present reminders to me what judges must do “that they may thrive.” There is also a large silver mezuzah [Torah verses in a small case] on my door post… I am a judge, born, raised, and proud of being a Jew. The demand for justice runs through the entirety of Jewish history and Jewish tradition. I hope, in all the years I have the good fortune to serve on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and courage to remain steadfast in the service of that demand.” (pages 201–202)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Naim Dangoor was a leader of Iraqi Jewry outside Iraq. The location of Babylonia is primarily modern-day Iraq. “When I was a young boy a teacher at school asked me, “Why are you a Jew?” I, with all the practicality of youth, replied, because I was born one!” There is, however, something in this sentiment that rings truer than one might think Judaism is a birthright, a glorious gift from one’s forefathers of faith, culture, and heritage. For me, it is this: my strong Babylonian heritage, the heritage that Daniel Pearl also shared, his mother having been born in Baghdad, that makes me so proud to be a Jew. Babylonia was one of the main birthplaces of the Jewish people, from where Abraham emerged as a founder, and later from where the Babylonian Talmud, forming the framework for Rabbinic Judaism, was created. Its glorious Jewish intellectual eminence fanned out across the known world for more than a thousand years. Currently the descendants of this tradition are spread throughout the globe.” (pages 97–98)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Norman Lear is a writer, producer, and social activist. “I identify with everything in life as a Jew. The Jewish contribution over the centuries to literature, art, science, theater, music, philosophy, the humanities, public policy, and the field of philanthropy awes me and fills me with pride and inspiration. As to Judaism, the religion: I love the congregation and find myself less interested in the ritual. If that describes me to others as a “cultural Jew,” I have failed. My description, as I feel it, would be: total Jew.” (page 34)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl is an Asian American Rabbi ordained by Hebrew Union College. She spent her college summers working as head song leader at Camp Swig, a Reform Jewish camp in Saratoga, California. “My father is a Jew and my mother is a Korean Buddhist. As the child of a mother who carried her own distinct ethnic and cultural traditions — and wore them on her face — I internalized the belief that I can never be “fully Jewish” because I could never be “purely” Jewish. My daily reminders included strangers’ comments “Funny you don’t look Jewish”), other Jews’ challenges to my halakhic [Jewish law] status, and every look in the mirror. Jewish identity is not solely a religious identification, but also a cultural and ethnic marker. While we have been a “mixed multitude” since Biblical times, over the centuries the idea of a Jewish race became popularized. After all, Jews have their own language, foods, even genetic diseases. But what does the Jewish “race” mean to you if you are Black and Jewish? Or Arab and Jewish? Or even German and Jewish, for that matter? How should Jewish identity be understood, given that Am Yisrael [people of Israel] reflects the faces of so many nations? Years ago… I called my mother to declare that I no longer wanted to be Jewish. I did not look Jewish. I did not carry a Jewish name, and I no longer wanted the heavy burden of having to explain and prove myself every time I entered a new Jewish community. My Buddhist mother’s response was profoundly simple: “Is that possible?” At that moment I realized I could no sooner stop being a Jew than I can stop being Korean, or female, or me. Judaism might not be my “race” but it is an internal identification as indestructible as my DNA. Jewish identity remains a complicated and controversial issue in the Jewish community. Ultimately, Judaism cannot be about race, but must be a way of walking in this world that transcends racial lines. Only then will the “mixed multitude” truly be Am Yisrael.” (pages 19-20)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie is President Emeritus of the Union for Reform Judaism who focuses on interfaith relations and social justice. “I am Jewish. This means, above all else, that I was present at Sinai and that when the Torah was given on that mountain, my DNA was to be found in the crowd… A people is usually defined by race, origin, language, territory or statehood, and none of these categories is an obvious common denominator for the worldwide Jewish people. Peoplehood is a puzzling concept for modern Jews, particularly the younger ones, who often cannot understand what connects them to other Jews in Moscow, Buenos Aires, and Tel Aviv. But I am convinced, to the depth of my being, that Jewish destiny is a collective destiny… It is the covenant at Sinai that links all Jews, including non-observant ones, in a bond of shared responsibility. And if we hope to strengthen the unity and interdependence of the Jewish people, we will have to revive the religious ideas on which these notions are based.” (pages 114–115)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Sarah Rosenbuam is a 15 years old from Southern California. “When I say that I am Jewish, I am identifying myself as part of a tradition, connected to our foremothers and fathers, and carrying on to the future a culture, a religion, a way of life. I feel pride and am overwhelmed with joy when I declare that I am part of this incredible people, our people Israel.” (page 54)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Senator Dianne Feinstein is the senior US Senator from California since 1992. “I was born during the Holocaust. If I had lived in Russia or Poland — the birthplaces of my grandparents — I probably would not be alive today, and I certainly wouldn’t have had the opportunities afforded to me here. When I think of the six million people who were murdered, and the horrors that can take hold of a society, it reinforces my commitment to social justice and progress, principles that have always been central to Jewish history and tradition. For those of us who hold elected office, governing in this complex country can often be difficult. My experience is that bigotry and prejudice in diverse societies ultimately leads to some form of violence, and we must be constantly vigilant against this. Our Jewish culture is one that values tolerance with an enduring spirit of democracy. If I’ve learned anything from the past and from my heritage, it’s that it takes all of us who cherish beauty and humankind to be mindful and respectful of one another. Every day we’re called upon to put aside our animosities, to search together for common ground, and to settle differences before they fester and become problems. Despite terrible events, so deeply etched in their souls, Jews continue to be taught to do their part in repairing the world. That is why I’ve dedicated my life to the pursuit of justice; sought equality for the underdog; and fought for the rights of every person regardless of their race, creed, color, sex, or sexual orientation, to live a safe, good life. For me that’s what it means to be a Jew, and every day I rededicate myself to that ideal.” (pages 228–229)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection.
2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)?
3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt?
4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Senator Joe Lieberman is a former U.S. Senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013, and a Vice-Presidential candidate in 2000. “What does being Jewish mean to me? To me, being Jewish means having help in answering life’s most fundamental questions. How did I come to this place? And, now that I am here, how should I live? My faith, which has anchored my life, begins with a joyful gratitude that there is a God who created the universe and then, because He continued to care for what He created, gave us laws and values to order and improve our lives. God also gave us a purpose and a destiny —to do justice and to protect, indeed to perfect, the human community and natural environment. Being Jewish in America also means feeling a special love for this country, which has provided such unprecedented freedom and opportunity to the millions who have come and lived here. My parents raised me to believe that I did not have to mute my religious faith or ethnic identity to be a good American, that, on the contrary, America invites all its people to be what they are and believe what they wish…. Jews around the world and all who love freedom— the freedom to think, to speak, to write, to question, to pray—will hold Daniel [Pearl] near to our hearts, and from his courage we will draw internal light and strength.” (pages 107-108)
1. Highlight or bold/underline a sentence or phrase from the excerpt that leaves a lasting impression on you. Explain your selection. 2. What elements of their identity does the author stress (culture, family, ancestry, history, religion, social justice, community, etc.)? 3. What do you think being Jewish means to the person in the excerpt? 4. Why do Jewish Americans not fit neatly into racial and religious categories?
Jewish Americans: Identity, History, and Experience Fact Sheet
● The first Jews to arrive in 1654 to what became the United States were Sephardic Portuguese Jews from Brazil, who fled the Portuguese expulsion and Inquisition. The American Jewish community was predominantly Sephardic through the first decades of the U.S.
● From 1840 to 1880, Jewish immigrants were primarily from Central Europe and Germany, fleeing poverty, persecution, anti-Jewish violence, and revolution. During this time, the Reform Movement transformed Jewish practice in America, created the first prayer book for Americans, and established a rabbinical school. By 1880, the majority of U.S. synagogues were Reform congregations.
● Between 1880 and 1924, 2 million Jewish immigrants came to the U.S. from Eastern Europe, pushed by persecution, pogroms, war, and poverty. White supremacist prejudice against Jews and Catholics from Eastern and Southern Europe motivated the passing of the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924, greatly restricting Jewish immigration through 1965.
● In official U.S. immigration and naturalization law from 1898 to 1941, Jews were categorized as part of the “Hebrew race.” This racialization deemed Jews non-white.
○ Racialization is when a group becomes categorized as a stigmatized group, and that group is seen as a separate lower race by another dominant group.
● Yiddish became a major language of Jewish newspapers, theatre, and culture, while at the same time public schools became the vehicle for acculturation, Americanization, and learning English, with many Jews entering teaching.
● American Judaism was changed by the large wave of Ashkenazi immigrants 1880-1924 from Eastern Europe, and in the next three decades, by the growth of the Orthodox (1920s-50s) and Conservative (1950s) movements. These movements established synagogues, rabbinical schools, seminaries, and universities. For many decades, American Judaism was defined by the Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox denominations.
● In addition to targeting African Americans, the white supremacist racism of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) deemed Jews as non-white, a separate and lesser race that was a threat to American “racial purity,” and targeted Jews with exclusionary immigration legislation and intimidation in large marches on Washington, D.C.
○ White supremacy is the belief that white people are a superior race and should dominate society. White supremacists target other racial and ethnic groups, such as African Americans and Jews, who they view as inferior.
● In the first half of the 20th century, Jews were usually not considered white in American society and, as a result, experienced discrimination in employment, housing, education, and social acceptance.
● From the 1880s through the 1960s, antisemitic employment discrimination with overt and covert “no Jews allowed” notices often led Jews to enter new industries with less discrimination. Housing covenants prohibited Jews or “Hebrews” from purchasing houses in many areas. Elite universities also had quotas, limiting the number of Jews who could attend them until the early 1960s.
● Jewish American allies to the African American community played a significant role in the founding and funding of the NAACP, Rosenwald Schools, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington to build over 5,000 schools for African American students between 1917 and 1932, and by 1928, one-third of the South’s rural Black school children and teachers were served by Rosenwald Schools. In 1931, lawyer Samuel Leibowitz defended the Scottsboro boys.
● Motivated by Jewish tradition’s concern for the worker, and oppressive working conditions for Jewish immigrants, the U.S. labor movement included many Jewish labor organizers, such as Samuel Gompers (founder of American Federation of Labor (AFL) and president 1886-1924); Rose Schneiderman (active 1904-1940s in the Women’s Trade Union League); and Pauline M. Newman (active 1907-1983), Clara Lemlich (active 1909-1951), and David Dubinsky (active 1932-1966 as president) in the International Ladies Garment Worker Union (ILGWU).
● Jews were pioneers in the new film industry in California in the early decades of the 20th century. This included studio heads Harry Cohn (Columbia Pictures 1919-1958), Samuel Goldwyn (active 1913-1959), Louis B. Mayer (active MGM 1915-1951), Carl Laemmle (Universal Pictures active 1909-1939), the Warner Brothers (active 1918-1973), and Adolph Zukor (Paramount Pictures active 1903-1959). Though there was less overt discrimination in California, anti-Jewish prejudice in the U.S. led many studio heads and producers to shy away from Jewish themes in movies for many decades.
● Jewish songwriters enthusiastically embraced American music and contributed to the Great American songbook (1911-1960), Tin Pan Alley (1885-1940), Broadway musicals (1949-2018), and folk and protest music (1930s-1970s). Among these were: George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, Arlo Guthrie, Phil Ochs, Art Garfunkel, Paul Simon, Peter Yarrow, Carole King, Country Joe McDonald, and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.
● In the 1920s and 1930s, anti-Jewish conspiracy theories (later used in Nazi propaganda) were openly distributed in the U.S., for example by Henry Ford’s newspaper (TheDearbornIndependent) and Father Edward Coughlin’s radio show.
● Drawing upon white supremacist ideas about Jews and pseudoscientific eugenics “theories,” Nazi racial theories deemed Jews a separate non-white race (racialization), and the lowest race in their racial hierarchy, leading to the genocide of the Holocaust.
● In the 1930s, growing anti-Jewish prejudice in the U.S. led to the U.S. government’s refusal of entry to Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany until 1944, after millions of Jews were already murdered.
○ Refugees are people with a history of persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
○ Immigrants are people who have left their country of origin and arrived in another country.
● Some Jews changed their Jewish sounding names to avoid discrimination, be more accepted by American society, not feel different or other, or because they had internalized other people’s negative attitudes about Jews. Starting with immigrants, and common with actors, this practice of name-changing continues to the present day. At the same time, today, many Jewish Americans proudly select Jewish ethnic names, as an expression of pride in their heritage.
● In the decades after the Holocaust, American attitudes toward Jews gradually changed, and overt anti-Jewish discrimination decreased. Descendants of light-skinned Jewish immigrants were able to acculturate or assimilate which brought gains and losses.
○ Acculturation refers to the adoption of many of the practices and values of the majority or dominant culture while still retaining a connection to one’s culture of origin, or a balance between cultures.
○ Assimilation is a process by which a minority group or culture comes to resemble that of the majority culture.
● Assimilation allowed the children of light-skinned Jewish immigrants to change their position on the racial hierarchy from their immigrant parents, though they remained vulnerable to antisemitism. Assimilation also brought loss of community, identity, cultural traditions, and practic
● During the civil rights movement, a large percentage of allies were Jewish activists, disproportionate to their small percentage in the U.S. population. Nearly half the country’s civil rights lawyers were Jewish, and more than half of the non-African American civil rights workers were Jewish, including two of the three men murdered during the 1964 Freedom Summer.
● Jewish women played critical roles in the second wave feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s: Betty Friedan, Bella Abzug, Gloria Steinem, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg when she worked for the ACLU.
● Jews have also been at the forefront of the LGBTQ rights movement, contributing to major milestones such as the advancement of marriage equality and the fight for HIV/AIDS recognition: Evan Wolfson, Edie Windsor, Roberta Kaplan, and Larry Kramer. Pioneering LGBTQ Jewish elected officials include Harvey Milk in California, and Barney Frank from Massachusetts.
● While anti-Jewish prejudice became less socially accepted over time, antisemitism persisted and persists in various forms today.
○ Antisemitism is hatred, discrimination, fear, and prejudice against Jews based on stereotypes and myths that target their ethnicity, culture, religion, traditions, right to self-determination, or connection to the State of Israel.
● Antisemitism is found across the political spectrum, and manifests differently. In schools, it often shows up through Holocaust or Nazi imagery that is used to intimidate or threaten Jewish students. It also shows up with Jewish students being excluded from diversity discussions or allyship, or for not disassociating themselves from Israel.
● Jews and Jewish institutions continue to be targets of anti-Jewish hate, which can include vandalism, bomb threats, harassment and bullying, physical assaults and violent attacks such as bombings and shootings. For example, in Pittsburgh, PA in 2018, and in Poway, CA in 2019, there were two synagogue shootings with a total of 12 fatalities.
● In different contexts, Jewish Americans may have very different experiences.
○ Light-skinned Jews may experience the benefits of conditional whiteness on the basis of their appearance, for example, in safer encounters with law enforcement. At the same time, they may experience antisemitic prejudice and discrimination on the basis of their Jewishness from people on both extremes of the political spectrum.
○ Jews of color, like all communities of color, face systemic racism, and also face antisemitic prejudice and discrimination on the basis of their Jewishness.
● Jews of all skin colors who are visibly Jewish, from their appearance, name, self-identification, or religious clothing or symbols, e.g., a Star of David necklace or kippah, experience more overt antisemitism.
● Reflecting Jewish tradition’s fondness for the written word, Jewish Americans have contributed extensively to American literature. Among these literary figures are:
○ poets Emma Lazarus, Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, and Louise Glück.
○ playwrights Ben Hecht, Lillian Hellman, Clifford Odets, Arthur Miller, Neil Simon, David Mamet, and Tony Kushner.
○ writers Mary Antin, Anzia Yezierska, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Isaac Asimov, Saul Bellow, Herman Wouk, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Elie Wiesel, Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Judy Blume, Art Spiegelman, Anita Diamant, Faye Kellerman, Nathan Englander, Jonathan Safran Foer, and Dara Hor
● Jewish comedians have also played an important role in shaping American popular culture, drawing on their experiences as outsiders looking in on American society. Examples include: Groucho Marx and the Marx brothers, Three Stooges, Jack Benny, Sid Cesar, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, and Jon Stewart.
● Jewish Americans have made significant contributions to life saving medical advances that have saved millions of American lives including: chlorination of drinking water (Abel Wolman in 1918); polio vaccine (Jonas Salk in 1955, and Albert Sabin in 1961-64); measles vaccine (Samuel Katz in 1958); heart pacemaker and defibrillator (Paul Zoll 1956 and 1960); the mammogram (Jacob Gershon-Cohen in 1964); the Heimlich maneuver (Henry Heimlich in 1974); and identifying that virus genes can cause cancer (Harold Varmus in the 1970s).
This lesson plan on the History of European Antisemitism is a critical tool for social studies teachers, empowering students with the context and critical skills to analyze the evolution of deep-seated hatred. The lesson is indispensable for World History by demonstrating how the Holocaust was the result of centuries of cumulative antisemitism. Furthermore, it strengthens U.S. History curricula by providing the historical framework needed to study WWII and genocide.
Essential Questions
What is antisemitism?
What are four historical forms of antisemitism?
How have these four forms of antisemitism been expressed throughout history?
How can these four forms of antisemitism be expressed in modern times?
What does modern antisemitism, or anti-Jew hate look like?
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to:
Define antisemitism.
Identify four forms of antisemitism (religious, economic, political, and racial) which are interconnected and have manifested in various ways over time.
Trace the evolution of antisemitism from pre-Christian to modern times.
Understand that anti-Jew hate evolves and manifests in ways that don’t fit into the historical forms.
Materials Needed
PRIMARY SOURCES
This slide deck contains the nine primary source examples below. The speaker notes on each slide explain the type of historical form of antisemitism the source represents, as well as offer guides for analysis of each source. Additional context and suggested use for them can be found in the lesson plan, beginning at Section 4.
SOURCE 1: Ecclesia And Synagoga, 1300 CE
SOURCE 2: (optional) Excerpt from Law of Theodosius II, 438 CE
SOURCE 3: German depiction of Blood Libel and Judensau, 15th century
SOURCE 4: (optional) Excerpt from Solomon bar Simson Chronicle, 1140
SOURCE 5 Excerpt from Henry Ford’s The International Jew, 1920
SOURCE 6: Political cartoon “Metamorphosis” from Simplicissmus, 1903
SOURCE 7: Excerpt from a letter written by Hitler to Adolf Geimlich, 1919
SOURCE 8: Magazine cover of the French publication “La Libre Parole,” 1893
SOURCE 9: Excerpt from speech by Senator Ellison DuRant Smith of South Carolina in support of the 1924 Federal Immigration Act
This lesson contains information, images, and text that reveal the extensive discrimination that Jews have faced historically and continue to face in the modern world.
This information can be difficult; allow time to reflect and process.
The term “anti-Jew hate” is a synonym for antisemitism, and both terms are used throughout the lesson. Simply put, antisemitism is anti-Jew hate.
Education about history is key to learning from society’s past injustices and creating a more equitable society. By educating students about anti-Jew hate, we can help them understand the harmful effects of prejudice and encourage them to work towards creating a more tolerant and inclusive society. Here are some specific reasons why we should teach students about antisemitism:
To raise awareness: Many students may not know what antisemitism is or how it manifests in our society. By teaching them about anti-Jew hate, teachers can help raise awareness and encourage students to recognize and challenge instances of antisemitism when they encounter them.To encourage critical thinking: Learning about antisemitism can help students develop critical thinking skills. They can analyze the historical and cultural contexts that have contributed to anti-Jew hate and evaluate the different and evolving ways that it manifests in our society.To promote empathy: Learning about anti-Jew hate can help students develop empathy for those who have experienced discrimination and prejudice. This can help students better understand the experiences of others and become more compassionate and tolerant individuals.
To prevent hate crimes: Antisemitism is a form of hate that can lead to violence and discrimination. By teaching students about it, teachers and students can help prevent hate crimes and create a safer and more inclusive community.
Lesson Plan
1. INTRODUCTION
It’s important to learn about the wider context – the various historical events – which have influenced the evolution of antisemitism.
The following points may be helpful as you introduce the topic:
Today, we will be learning about the history of European antisemitism, including its origins in the ancient Mediterranean world, its evolution through European history, and its manifestations in modern culture. Many people think that antisemitism started with Hitler and the Nazis. However, antisemitism goes back to ancient times.
Unfortunately, antisemitism continues today – both abroad and in the United States. In fact, there are sometimes incidents of antisemitism in countries with very few or no Jews.
Antisemitism is complex and has a number of forms. Antisemitism cannot be properly understood without understanding its religious roots, which is where this lesson begins.
Understanding lesson structure: The following content of the lesson plan is directly mirrored in the presentation deck, which is available on the website. As you are reviewing this lesson plan, please make sure you are referring to the Google Slides Deck for Classroom Presentation to familiarize yourself with the full content and its presentation.
2. DEFINING THE TERM “ANTISEMITISM”
Before diving into the history of antisemitism, it’s important to first define the term and ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what it means. You can begin by asking your students how they would define antisemitism. Then, ask them to consider their answers in light of the definition of antisemitism outlined below. You will find a slide with the definition in the Google Slides Deck for Classroom Presentationas well as the Antisemitism Glossary of Terms (PDF).
Definitions for antisemitism vary, but ultimately, they all come down to the same thing: Antisemitism is hatred, discrimination, fear, and prejudice against Jews based on stereotypes and myths that target their ethnicity, culture, religion, traditions, right to self-determination, or connection to the State of Israel.
The term Jew-hate can be used interchangeably with the word antisemitism, as they both mean the same thing.
To best communicate that antisemitism is a word for anti-Jew hate, ICS, along with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Associated Press, and the New York Times all use the single-word spelling.
3. ASSESS PRIOR KNOWLEDGE
Before jumping into the history of antisemitism, begin with what students may already know about this particular type of hatred. Choose one of the following activities to introduce the topic:
Option 1: Using the Prior Knowledge Handout, assess prior knowledge and particular areas of interest among students.
Option 2: More informally, have a brief class discussion around the topic. Some possible questions for starting the conversation can include the following questions. You may want to consider allowing your students time to process these questions in writing first, so that they feel more prepared to share their thoughts.
How long do you think anti-Jew hate has been around?
Where have you learned about antisemitism or past antisemitic events?
Why do you think it is important to learn about antisemitism?
What does it mean for a group of people to feel “othered”?
What do you know about how anti-Jew hate looks today?
Next, explain to your students that you’ll be exploring the history of this hatred. As you go through the presentation, students will see how and why the various stereotypes and myths developed. Understanding this history will also help students to identify antisemitism in their own world, especially as they see the modern examples in the closing activity.
Note:As you go through the Google Slides Deck for Classroom Presentation, you can have your students take notes using the graphic organizers. There are two versions of the organizer – one that has specific prompts to help students look out for key information, and the other is open-ended and allows students to jot down whatever notes they feel are most important.
Judaism originated in the Land of Israel around the 12th century BCE.
Judaism’s notion of monotheism was seen as a radical departure from the polytheistic beliefs that were prevalent in ancient times. This difference in belief, as well as distinct religious practices, often set Jews apart, leading them to be viewed as “other” in the societies in which they lived.
The destruction of the Second Jewish Temple and the creation of the JewishDiaspora in 70 CE furthered the“othering” of Jews. Jews became viewed as outsiders, with their safety and well-being dependent on the tolerance of others.
Meanwhile, upon the Roman crucifixion of Jesus in 30 CE, Christianity began to spread. One of the ways that Christianity distinguished itself from Judaism was through the concept of replacement theology.
In 380 CE, Christianity became the official religion of Rome. In 438 CE, the Roman Empire codified anti-Jewish laws through the Theodosian Code, which established Christianity’s legal dominance over Judaism.
Even after the Roman empire dissolved in the 5th century, succeeding kingdoms and monarchs continued to use the anti-Jewish legal codes of the Roman Empire.
Tell students that this pair of figures personifies the Christian Church (Ecclesia) and Judaism (Synagoga). In the medieval period, they often appeared sculpted as large figures on either side of a church or cathedral entry, and still exist at some places like Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Use the “see-think-wonder” structure to have students analyze what these sculptures are communicating. Facilitation instructions for this primary source analysis discussion are included in the Google Slides Deck for Classroom Presentation.
Primary Source:
Step 1: SEE – What do you notice about the figures? Possible responses:
Ecclesia
Young, attractive, adorned with a crown
Holding a chalice and cross-topped staff
Looking confidently forward
Synagoga
Blindfolded and drooping/hunched over a bit
Carrying a broken lance (possibly an allusion to the Holy Lance that stabbed Jesus) and the tablets of Jewish Law that may be slipping from her hand
Step 2: THINK – What do these details suggest? What message do you think these details communicate?
Elicit student ideas and guide students in their thinking to understand that this is a visual representation of replacement theology. Judaism is being portrayed as an obsolete or flawed religion that is “blind” to the “true” revelation of Christianity.
Step 3: WONDER – What questions do you have?
Students may wonder about the objects in their hands, or they may wonder about the difference in dress. These are great opportunities for further student inquiry.
Optional: Share SOURCE 2: Excerpt from Law of Theodosius II
Context:
The Theodosian Code, which codified anti-Jewish laws, was adopted in 438 CE, roughly 60 years after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The following excerpt reveals some of its concrete prohibitions against Jews, as well as some of the attitudes that formed their basis.
Primary Source:
“Wherefore, although according to an old saying ‘no cure is to be applied in desperate sicknesses,’ nevertheless, in order that these dangerous sects which are unmindful of our times may not spread into life the more freely, in indiscriminate disorder as it were, we ordain by this law to be valid for all time: No Jew – or no Samaritan who subscribes to neither religion – shall obtain offices and dignities… Indeed, we believe it sinful that the enemies of the heavenly majesty and of the Roman laws should become the executors of our laws – the administration of which they have slyly obtained… should have the power to judge or decide as they wish against Christians…, and thus, as it were, insult our faith.” [2]
First, consider guiding a discussion allowing students to again share what they see – what stands out to them from this quote. Then, ask students to more specifically identify:
How are Jews being described/perceived by Roman law?
sly/untrustworthy
dangerous
Where do you see elements of a Christian theological view?
Jews being described as “enemies of the heavenly majesty,” and “insult to our faith”
What are Jews prohibited from doing?
serving in public office, presiding in courts → in other words, having any kind of authority over Christians
Explain to students that the ancient origins of antisemitism laid the groundwork for the emergence and persistence of various forms of antisemitism throughout history. In the remainder of this lesson, we will explore four forms of antisemitism – religious, economic, political, and racial – and how they were expressed in the past. It’s important to note that, even though some forms developed earlier than others, there is often overlap or a combination of multiple forms.
5. HISTORICAL FORM OF ANTISEMITISM: RELIGIOUS
Guiding Questions: How did Christianity depict Jews as a threat? What are some historical examples of religious antisemitism?
The notes below, as well as additional content, are presented through correlating slides in the Google Slides Deck for Classroom Presentation. Please refer to the Antisemitism Glossary of Terms for additional definitions of the bolded words below.
● By the early medieval period, Christianity had emerged as the dominant force in both daily and political European life. This power structure reinforced the belief that Christians were superior to Jews. Depicting Jews as a threat to the social order became central to European culture, as the following examples illustrate:
Jews were accused of deicide
The deicide charge was used to justify the murder and forced conversion of Jews during the Crusades (1096-1272)
Jews were seen as a threat to Christian purity
Jews were forced to wear identifying markers (such as yellow badges or special hats) to ensure that a Christian would not accidentally marry a Jew (1215)
Jews were forced to live in segregated areas known as ghettos and were excluded from all activities in mainstream society (13th century)
Jews were associated with the devil and evil
Jews were commonly depicted as having devilish features (e.g., horns, forked tail); Judensau (pronounced you-den-saw) became a category of art portraying Jews engaging in derogatory interactions with pigs
Jewish customs were seen as nefarious, for example, Christians claimed Jews used the blood of Christian children in baking matzah for Passover
The blood libel accusation resulted in the blame and killing of Jews when a Christian child would go missing
Share SOURCE 3: German depiction of Blood Libel and Judensau.
Context:
The artwork below from Medieval Germany displays several of the elements of religious antisemitism described above, including blood libel, Judensau, associations with the devil and evil, and Jews being forced to mark their identity through their clothing. Ask students to carefully examine the visual and describe the connections they make to religious antisemitism.
*Important Teacher Note – Content Warning: Please note that the visual content in this source contains more mature elements. Please consider if this is appropriate for the age group and setting in which you teach. Consider using the alternate image provided below.
Questions for students: How are Jews being depicted in the image? What harmful myth about Jews is represented? How does an image like this reinforce religious antisemitic views?
Possible Responses:
On top is an image of Simon of Trent, reinforcing the blood libel myth
Below, Jews are depicted as being engaged in disgusting and lewd actions with a pig (considered an unclean animal in Jewish tradition) – this represents the idea of Judensau:
A Jewish man is placing his mouth on a pig’s anus
A Jewish child is suckling from the pig
A Jewish man is riding backwards on the pig, alluding to his “backwards” nature in his rejection of Christianity
Both the Jews and the devil are wearing circular badges (one of the identifying markers that Jews were forced to wear in parts of Europe)
Optional: Share SOURCE 4: Excerpt from Solomon bar Simson Chronicle[5].
Context:
By the 11th century, as a result of becoming a diaspora, Jews had settled across many regions of Europe and the Middle East. In 1096, Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade to regain the Holy Land from Muslim rule. Unfortunately, a number of Jewish communities lay en route to the Eastern Mediterranean and were attacked by the Crusaders. Many Christians viewed Jews negatively because they did not embrace Jesus. So, although the Crusaders set off to fight “enemy Muslims,” they quickly incorporated attacking “enemy Jews” as part of their mission. As the Crusaders made their way through France and Germany, they burned synagogues, forced conversions, brutally massacred Jews, and incited anti-Jewish riots.
The following excerpt is from a source known as the “Solomon bar Simson Chronicle.” The chronicle is a Jewish account of the First Crusade.
Primary Source:
“Now it came to pass that as they [the Crusaders] passed through the towns where Jews dwelled, they said to one another: “Look now, we are going a long way to seek out the profane shrine [Jerusalem] and to avenge ourselves on the Ishmaelites [Muslims], when here, in our very midst, are the Jews—they whose forefathers murdered and crucified him [Jesus] for no reason.” Let us first avenge ourselves on them and exterminate them from among the nations so that the name of Israel will no longer be remembered, or let them adopt our faith and acknowledge the offspring of promiscuity.”
First, consider guiding a discussion, allowing students to again share what they see – what stands out to them from this quote? Then, ask students to specifically discuss:
According to this quote, what did the Crusaders want to do to the Jews?
Kill them all (“exterminate them from among the nations”)
What religious antisemitic notions did the Crusaders use to justify their actions?
Deicide charge (“those whose forefathers murdered and crucified him for no reason”)
Jews being evil (“offspring of promiscuity”)
Optional: The graphic organizer gives students space to reflect after learning about each historical form of antisemitism. If time permits, give students a few moments to reflect, either through writing or discussion, about what they have learned in this part of the lesson.
Transition: Explain that the second form of antisemitism we will be discussing is economic antisemitism. The image of the “greedy Jew” may be the most enduring antisemitic stereotype of all. It is during the medieval period that economic antisemitism began to take on forms that are familiar to us today.
6. HISTORICAL FORM OF ANTISEMITISM: ECONOMIC
Guiding Questions: How did Jews first become associated with money/money lending? What are some historical examples of religious antisemitism?
● Starting in the 11th century, many medieval European legal systems prohibited Jews from owning land, farming, or joining craft guilds. These legal systems were based on the types of legal codes from the Roman period, like the Theodosian Code, which were designed to limit Jews religiously and economically.
● With few economic opportunities available, many Jews turned to marginalized occupations, such as tax/rent collecting and money lending on behalf of wealthier Christians. Many Christian lords would use Jews as middlemen to bypass the Christian religious prohibition on usury.
● As a result, the Christian populace depended on Jewish moneylenders, which resulted in resentment and hostility towards Jewish debt collectors (rather than the rulers who were enacting the taxes or charging high interest in the first place).
● Christian leadership exacerbated these tensions by positioning Jews as a scapegoat for the common person’s financial troubles. Though Jews were not the only ones involved in lending money at interest during the Middle Ages, eventually usury – and finance more generally – became identified as a “Jewish practice.”
● This association between Jews and money became deeply entrenched in Western society to the point where it is now a Jewish stereotype.
o Shylock – perhaps the most notorious Jewish moneylender – is a fictional character created by William Shakespeare. It’s important to note that Shakespeare debuted this play at a time when nearly no Jews were living in England – they had all been expelled 300 years earlier. However, the stereotype of the Jewish moneylender was so entrenched by this point that audiences didn’t need to have Jews around for the caricature to resonate.
o Hundreds of years later, Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, propagated virulently antisemitic notions about Jews in his newspaper The Dearborn Independent, in the 1920s, drawing on medieval tropes that described Jews as ruthless, money-hungry, and in control of the world’s finances. The antisemitic content that was published in Ford’s newspaper had a significant impact because of its vast readership, with articles being picked up by other news outlets across America. Consequently, Ford’s published works played a role in the rise of antisemitism in the United States.
Share SOURCE 5: Excerpt from The International Jew.
Context:
The following excerpt is an illustration of the ideas propagated by Henry Ford in his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. He collected and published his articles in a book entitled The International Jew: The World’s Foremost Problem. The book became widely read, was translated into several languages, and served as a point of inspiration for later Nazi leadership.
Primary Source:
“Business is to [a Jew] a matter of goods and money, not of people. If you are in distress and suffering, the Jewish heart would have sympathy for you; but if your house were involved in the matter, you and your house would be two separate entities…the Jew would naturally find it difficult, in his theory of business, to humanize the house…he would say that it was only “business.” (June 5, 1920)[6]
Ask students:
● How are Jews being portrayed in this quote?
o Cruel, heartless, entirely driven by greed
o Incapable of displaying “sympathy” or “humanizing” situations if money is involved
Optional: The graphic organizer gives students space to reflect after learning about each historical form of antisemitism. If time permits, give students a few moments to reflect, either through writing or discussion, about what they have learned in this part of the lesson.
Transition: Explain that the third form of antisemitism we will be unpacking is political antisemitism. To understand the roots of this kind of anti-Jewish thought, we need to go back to the French Revolution and the rise of the modern nation-state.
7. HISTORICAL FORM OF ANTISEMITISM: POLITICAL
Guiding Questions: What is the “Jewish Question”? How did the political situation differ for the Jews of Western and Central Europe compared to the situation of those in Eastern Europe? How did the backlash to Jewish emancipation in Europe contribute to political antisemitism? What are some historical examples of political antisemitism?
In the late 1700s and 1800s, the cultural and political status of Jews in Western and Central Europe would begin to change.
The French Revolution created a new category of “citizen” that granted equal rights to everyone (at least in theory). However, some French people wondered whether Jews were capable of really being “French enough” to be entitled to political rights like other citizens of France. This became known as the “Jewish Question.”
In the end, France decided to emancipate its Jewish population in 1791. However, in return, Jews were expected to make changes to various aspects of their cultural and communal life (e.g., stop using traditional Jewish names, refrain from using Hebrew/Yiddish in business transactions, keep their Jewishness private and out of the public sphere).
However, in Eastern Europe (where the majority of European Jews lived) the political situation was very different. Jews in Eastern Europe were not emancipated until 126 years later in 1917.
In Imperial Russia in the 19th and early 20th centuries:
Jews were only allowed to live in the so-called “Pale of Settlement.”
Russian authorities encouraged antisemitic violence and riots known as pogroms.
By the mid-19th century in Western and Central Europe, objections to emancipation began to grow. Resentment and fear helped fuel the prejudices that would manifest into political antisemitism.
Resentment of perceived economic success among Jews fueled false notions that Jews were stealing jobs from Christians and were over-represented in important fields.
As Jews became politically active, they were viewed as proponents of radical/dangerous political views – those held by whatever the powers that be feared.
For example, because figures like Karl Marx and Leon Trotsky were of Jewish descent, this led people to closely associate Jews with communism (even though most Jews were not communists).
More broadly, however, there were widespread conspiracy theories throughout Europe about Jewish governmental and economic control, which hinged on small numbers of Jews in positions of power.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, published in Russia in 1905, is one of the most widely cited pieces of political antisemitism to this day.
Despite efforts to assimilate and become part of their host societies, Jews continued to stay connected to their own communities and retain aspects of their cultural identities. This led critics to believe that Jews were benefiting from emancipation while remaining a separate group – a group whose loyalty would always be questioned. Jews, therefore, continued to be perceived as “other” and as a threat to European society.
Share SOURCE 6: Political Cartoon – “Metamorphosis”
Context:
The following political cartoon, printed in 1903, comes from a German weekly satirical magazine called Simplicissimus.[7] Explain that metamorphosis means a thing/person changing from one thing to something completely different (such as a caterpillar becoming a butterfly). Then have students take a look at the image below.
Primary Source:
First, consider guiding a discussion allowing students to share what they see – what do they notice when first examining this cartoon? Then ask students more specifically:
What is going on in this cartoon?
A Jewish immigrant is transforming himself from a pauper into a well-respected and affluent member of society
What about the way the Jewish man is portrayed stays the same throughout the three pictures? What changes?
The exaggerated and distorted features remain (hooked nose)
The clothes are more expensive and modern
The items he holds become more valuable and modern
What is this cartoon implying about Jewish emancipation?
That a Jew will always be a Jew – an “other” – no matter how much he changes externally and tries to assimilate
Reinforce the point that many in European society opposed emancipation because their prejudice against Jews led them to interpret Jewish efforts to join society as being motivated by ill intent. Additionally, the reference to the Jewish nose is based on pseudo-scientific notions of Jews being an inferior race, which will be addressed in the final form of antisemitism outlined in this lesson plan.
Optional: The graphic organizer gives students space to reflect after learning about each historical form of antisemitism. If time permits, give students a few moments to reflect, either through writing or discussion, about what they have learned in this part of the lesson.
Transition: Explain to students that the last form of antisemitism you’re going to examine is called racialized antisemitism. While political antisemites fear a “Jewish” political agenda for “world domination”, racial antisemites claim that there is a Jewish agenda for “racial domination.”
8. HISTORICAL FORM OF ANTISEMITISM: RACIAL
Guiding Questions: What term did Wilhelm Marr coin, and what did the term describe? How were the scientific concepts of natural selection and biological inheritance misappropriated by antisemites? What are some historical examples of racial antisemitism?
● In 1859, Charles Darwin debuted his theory of evolution and natural selection. In 1865, Gregor Mendel introduced the concept of biological inheritance – the basis for what we now call genetics.
● Racists and antisemites misappropriated these notions to support their beliefs in white superiority.
● In 1879, German journalist Wilhelm Marr introduced the term “antisemitism” to describe his opposition to Jews as a supposed inferior “race” (please reference the Appendix for more information). Soon, Marr’s new term was being used throughout Europe.
● Marr’s notion of Jews being an inferior race marked a dangerous turn. According to Marr, Jews were a problem because of innate and unchangeable biological differences.
● Racial antisemitism was the primary manifestation of antisemitism in Nazi Germany.
● According to Nazi racial theory, Jews constituted a biologically inferior race which was thought to corrupt the pure German-Aryan stock through “race-mixing” and intermarriage. It became extremely important to the Third Reich to distinguish between those with Jewish and “Aryan” ancestry.
● In 1935, the Nazi government passed the Nuremberg Laws, which legally made Jewish Germans different from non-Jewish Germans. They restricted marriages and sexual relations between those deemed racially German and those with Jewish backgrounds. Under the Nuremberg Laws, only “Aryans” were allowed citizenship. Jews were stripped of citizenship and denied their political rights, and their passports invalidated.
● Eventually, the Nazis passed more discriminatory laws that forced Jews out of many professions, severely limited their movements, and required them to self-identify in public with the infamous yellow stars.
● The Nazis made a great effort to define who was and was not racially acceptable. Their racialized understanding applied to: religious Jews, non-religious Jews, converts from Judaism to other religions, those who were not considered Jewish according to Jewish law but had some amount of Jewish ancestry.
Share SOURCE 7: Excerpt from a letter written by Adolf Hitler to Adolf Geimlich.[8]
Context:
In the politically unsettled period after World War I, the Bavarian state government in Germany established a group on May 11, 1919, to keep an eye on political groups and to carry out “educational work” in order to combat revolutionary activities among disgruntled army veterans. Adolf Hitler joined the “Information Department” as a propaganda writer and informant and participated in education courses organized by the department. Because of his noted rhetorical gifts, Hitler was appointed as a lecturer. He was asked to respond to Adolf Gemlich, a course participant, on September 16, 1919, on the government’s position on the so-called “Jewish Question.”
The letter is an early example of Hitler’s views on Jews before he became the leader of the National Socialist Democratic Party, also known as the Nazi Party, in 1921. The full letter builds on all of the types of antisemitism explored in this lesson. To analyze racial antisemitism, please examine the following excerpt with students:
Primary Source:
“Through a thousand years of inbreeding, often practiced within a very narrow circle, the Jew has in general preserved his race and character much more rigorously than many of the peoples among whom he lives. And as a result, there is living amongst us a non-German, foreign race, unwilling and unable to sacrifice its racial characteristics, to deny its own feeling, thinking and striving, and which nonetheless possesses all the political rights that we ourselves have. The feelings of the Jew are concerned with purely material things; his thoughts and desires even more so…His activities produce a racial tuberculosis among nations…”
Then, discuss the following questions with students:
Where do you see racialized antisemitism expressed?
“thousand years of inbreeding”, “the Jew has preserved his race and character”, “non-German, foreign race, unwilling and unable to sacrifice its racial characteristics”
reveals the thought that Jews are a ‘foreign race’ with undesirable traits, and that they cannot be changed
“the feelings of the Jew are concerned with purely material things”
claims that the so-called greediness of Jews is in fact an inalterable racial characteristic
“his activities produce a racial tuberculosis”
Jews are described as causing disease in society – something malignant and insidious
What other types of antisemitism does Hitler express in this passage?
“possesses all the political rights that we ourselves have”
Disturbed that Jews have equal political rights – echoes the idea that Jews use political rights for nefarious gain
“the feelings of the Jew are concerned with purely material things”
ties in racialized perception of Jews with economic antisemitism
Share SOURCE 8: Speech by Ellison DuRant Smith”[9]
Context:
The Jewish immigrant population in the U.S. significantly grew between 1880-1924. Fears that immigrants posed a threat to the racial and cultural makeup of the U.S. led to efforts to keep Jews out. As a result, America created a new federal law that primarily aimed to exclude Eastern European Jews and Southern Italian Catholics from immigrating to the country: the 1924 Immigration Act. Many of the arguments put forward in support of the law, like this one, were explicitly racist. While the text does not name Jews specifically (aside from Son of a German Immigrant), it’s important to note that this is the kind of thinking that went along with racialized antisemitism – a belief in white superiority above ALL other “races”.
Primary Source:
“Who is an American? … If you were to go abroad and someone were to meet you and say, ‘I met a typical American,’ what would flash into your mind as a typical American, the typical representative of that new Nation? Would it be the son of an Italian immigrant, the son of a German immigrant, the son of any of the breeds from the Orient, the son of the denizens of Africa? …Thank God we have in America perhaps the largest percentage of any country in the world of the pure, unadulterated Anglo-Saxon stock…It is for the preservation of that splendid stock that has characterized us that I would make this not an asylum for the oppressed of all countries, but a country to assimilate and perfect that splendid type of manhood that has made America the foremost Nation in her progress and in her power… [L]et us shut the door and assimilate what we have, and let us breed pure American citizens and develop our own American resources.”
Then, discuss the following questions with students:
How does DuRant Smith express racialized antisemitism?
That only true Americans should only come from “pure” Anglo-Saxon (meaning mostly English) families. They even want to “breed” more of these “pure” Americans.
This idea is part of a bigger way of thinking where people are judged and ranked based on their race. By saying what they think is the “right” race for America, they are automatically saying that other races are “wrong” or “less than.”
How do these ideas suggest a specific, and potentially harmful, vision for who should be considered truly “American” and how immigrants should be treated?
These ideas are harmful because they basically say that only people who are from a specific background (Anglo-Saxon) are truly American and valuable. Everyone else, especially immigrants, is seen as “less than” or a “problem” that needs to be changed.
Share SOURCE 9: Magazine cover of “La Libre Parole”[10]
As a final primary source analysis activity, ask students to look for the four forms of antisemitism they have learned about in a single source, which demonstrates the idea that these types of antisemitism are often interconnected and influence each other. Use the Library of Congress analysis method, “Observe, Reflect, Question,” to analyze the following magazine cover, which reflects many of the concepts from this lesson and can help students visually synthesize those ideas.
Context:
This magazine cover is from a French publication called La Libre Parole. It was printed on October 28, 1893 (just over 100 years after the emancipation of Jews in France).The editor and founder of this magazine was Edouard Drumont, who founded the Antisemitic League of France in 1889. Consider how this cover reflects antisemitic ideas held by parts of French society at the time.
Primary Source:
Step 1 – OBSERVE: Start by having students make observations, focusing on concrete details that they notice.
Observations may include: Tattered clothes, enlarged nose, animalistic/dehumanized features like claws, the money stuffed in his pockets and coming out of the world, he seems to be doing harm to the planet. He’s also in the dark – the sun is on the other side.
Step 2 – REFLECT: Next, ask students to reflect and use the prompt questions to help guide their thinking. What do the details suggest? What stereotypes are represented? In what ways are the four forms of antisemitism discussed in this lesson represented in this one image?
Reflections might include: If you recognize the stereotyped features, then we know this is a dehumanizing depiction of a Jew. Clearly, the illustrator believed that this man is harming the world in multiple ways. That he’s in the dark, along with the claw-like hands, suggests evil activity.
As for how the four types of antisemitism manifest in this image, here are some possible insights:
Political antisemitism. The figure appears to be maliciously grabbing onto the globe, eagerly climbing his way as far as he can go. This reflects a perceived threat of Jewish world domination.
Racialized stereotypes – the enlarged nose, the pointy beard, the beastly features – all exaggerated, and are reminiscent of the idea that Jews are less human and an inferior race trying to soil the purity of white Europeans.
Economic stereotype of the greedy Jew with money stuffed in his pockets echoes the idea that Jews perform harmful economic activities.
While not as overtly featured as the other forms of antisemitism, we can still see representations of religious antisemitism. First, there is the association between Jews and darkness, and therefore evil – a common trope in religious antisemitism. The man also covers his head, something that marks him as a religious Jew.
Step 3 – QUESTION: Finally, encourage students to ask additional questions to help further their learning. Possible questions might include: Why does the figure have exaggerated features? Why does he have on ragged clothes, while shown with an excessive amount of money in his pockets? Why is he illustrated as doing some sort of harm to the world?
Transition to Gallery Walk Activity: Explain to students that, like in the La Libre Parole image, the four forms of antisemitism continue to manifest in society, which will be demonstrated in the following activity. However, as important as it is to be able to recognize these influences, sometimes the way antisemitism is expressed in the current context does not fit neatly into the four historical forms. Today, we are seeing unprecedented levels of anti-Jew hate showing up in schools, sports, social media, and more, with the intent to hurt, intimidate, and marginalize Jews. In the following activity, we will refer to some examples as Evolving Anti-Jew Hate when they do not distinctly fit into the four categories we have learned about.
9. GALLERY WALK ACTIVITY
This activity may be used as a final assignment or as a lesson wrap-up. Students will apply what they have learned through direct instruction in the lesson to modern examples of antisemitism, or anti-Jew hate, that they will analyze independently.
Objective
Through close examination of primary source documents and collaborative group work, this activity will enrich student understanding of how the four forms of antisemitism have manifested in the past as well as the present.
Display the primary sources around the classroom. These primary sources should be displayed “gallery style,” at different stations in a way that allows students to disperse themselves around the room. The primary sources can be arranged in any order. They can be hung on walls or placed on tables. The most important factor is that the stations are spread far enough apart to reduce significant crowding.
There are 14 stations for this activity, so you may want to divide the class into groups and assign each group two or three stations, depending on the number of students in the class. Of course, you may decide to use fewer primary sources, depending upon the amount of time you have to spend on this lesson or what content you want to emphasize.
Instructions
Explain to the students that they will participate in a “gallery walk activity.” Students will move around from station to station, like in a museum or art gallery. They will review the source at each station and answer a few questions per station. Students should write their responses in the space provided on the Gallery Walk Note-Catcher (included in the PDF).
Alternative Gallery Walk Experience: Interactive Digital Gallery
Then, instruct students to click on each image to interact with it by reading an example, answering a self-assessment question about the form of historical antisemitism shown, and considering discussion questions. Teachers can further assess understanding through class discussions or by collecting individual responses to provided prompts. Note that student responses entered on the slide identifying the historical form of antisemitism will not be available to the teacher.
10. CONCLUSION
Have students fill out the exit slip (PDF | Google Doc) or use the questions to hold a class discussion.
Appendix: Race vs. Ethnicity
The term ‘ethnicity’ falls short when describing Jewish identity. The more fitting, ancient term is Am (people). This category predates and differs from later social constructs like race, religion, and ethnicity, explaining why Jewish people don’t fit neatly into any of them.
However, to help students better understand how to define Jews as a group of people, it can be helpful to understand the difference between race and ethnicity, since Jews are often classified as an ethnic and/or a religious group, but NOT a race.
Ethnicity refers to a people’s shared cultural identity, often based on factors such as ancestry, language, religion, customs, and a sense of common history or heritage. It distinguishes one group of people from another based on these cultural characteristics.
The term race is often used to categorize and differentiate people based on physical traits such as skin color, facial features, and hair texture. However, it’s important to note that the concept of race is a social construct and not a scientifically valid biological category. All people are part of the human race.
It’s inaccurate to call Jews a race because they come from a wide variety of backgrounds and exhibit significant physical and visible diversity. This is why ethnicity is the preferred term to describe the Jewish people.
[1] Statues of Ecclesia and Synogoga in Freiburg Germany Cathedral Entrance, c. 1300
[5] Source: Shlomo Eidelberg, The Jews and the Crusaders: The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades (Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1977), pg. 22.
[7] Harris, Constance. The Way Jews Lived: Five Hundred Years of Printed Words and Images. McFarland, 2008. p. 335.
[8] Source of English translation: Jeremy Noakes and Geoffrey Pridham, eds., Nazism 1919-1945, Vol. 1, The Rise to Power 1919-1934. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1998, pp. 12-14.
[9] Speech by Ellison DuRant Smith, April 9, 1924, Congressional Record, 68th Congress, 1st Session (Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1924), vol. 65, 5961–5962. https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/1249
Aztecs, Moors, and Christians: Festivals of Reconquest in Mexico and Spain, by Max Harris. Austin: University of Texas Press. 2000, paper, 309 pages.
Review by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.
Max Harris gives us a thorough recounting of several interesting local festivals—some of which are still in existence—that show the influence of the Moors on Spain and the efforts of the Christians to rid the country of their dominance. Harris also shows us how parallel festivals have existed for hundreds of years in Mexico—with similar themes and players.
Although the native peoples of Mexico already had their own festivals, some of which were connected strongly to war and invasion, with the advent of the Spaniards came additional festivals focusing on the dangerous Moors, in some cases the Turks, and in some other cases unknown invaders. Harris gives us several different time periods of festivals to consider here.
Harris first tells of the importance of understanding the Moorish influence on Spanish culture and how it had to be fought back. He gives us one chapter each on beheadings of the Moors and on understanding the importance of the masks in the festivals. The more gruesome and bizarre the masks, the more frenzied the spectators watching the parading Moors and the zealous Christians who rout them.
Without giving all the content of the book away, I will say that the author paints very vivid descriptions of the masks, weapons, decorations, dances, music, chants, and cheering indeed. Each locale has its own flavor of festival, and the events are celebrated with great gusto in each case. The author does a very good job of explaining possible origins of some of the stranger customs and decorations, in addition to give giving a strong cultural and historical framework for all the events. Harris beings a great deal of expertise to this discussion.
Harris divides his content on the rest of the festivals this way: Spain 1150-1521; Mexico 1320-1521; Mexico 1521-1600; and Spain 1521-1600. The author has an obvious in-depth knowledge of Spanish, Mexican, and native peoples and their customs and beliefs. He also shows a facility for other languages and this helps him explain the festivals, in some cases adding possible origins of some of the events, traditions, and decorations being used.
Teachers of social studies will profit from using this text as background reading for units on religion, culture, and interaction among peoples from different continents. There are also clear uses for this book in history units, geography units, and world language projects for more advanced students. It is also perhaps interesting personal reading for teachers and administrators with an interest in history, Latino culture, and related topics.
I recommend the book for those uses and also as interesting reading for professional development discussions for teachers of social studies and other subjects. Harris provides a very thorough picture of several festivals in both Mexico and Spain. Certainly units and lessons on those countries can be based on information in this book.
The discussion of the Moors as “dangerous other” threatening other cultures is timely right now, given the fears of Muslim persons harbored by some persons who do not have a complete understanding of the religion and who have heard only parts of what has been happening in world events involving a very small number of Muslims. The fear of diverse people and different religions and customs is an important force to be understood in social studies lessons and units.
A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth, by Peter Ward & Joe Kischvink. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2015, cloth, 391 pages.
Review by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.
The authors have a great time presenting their exciting theories and arguments in this informative book. You can tell they really love the topics in this book and enjoy discussing them. This really comes out clearly upon reading.
Whether you are a botany teacher or a fan of dinosaurs, you also will enjoy the discussion of how life started on this planet. Without giving all the content away, I will say that even though my science background is limited (undergrad minor) I got a lot out of the book. It is entertaining and very interesting.
Some background in a lot of different science areas would be helpful for the readers, for the authors talk about Jurassic Park, plants, dinosaurs, oxygen, plate tectonics, chemistry, geology, paleontology, and on and on. The authors obviously have a great deal of interdisciplinary background and and make good use of their facility with many types of data, theories, schools of thought, and science traditions.
The authors make good use of humor, also, in putting forth their ideas. For example, they mention the period of time when many scientists feel nothing was happening in terms of major biological change, some calling this the boring billion years. The authors respond to this notion by saying, “A billion years is a long time for nothing to happen. But like so much else, the boring billion has recently been shown to be not so boring. New discoveries are showing us that life was not resting at all” (p. 90).
They mention on page 93 that there was no oxygen available during this same time, using a chart and this clever explanation: “Zero. Really zero. No whiffs.”
Regarding a theory about tectonic plate movement, they stress on page 141, “However, this would work only if Laurentia and Australia were roughly ninety degrees away from each other at the time (which—duh—had to be true if Australia was on the equator and Laurentia on the pole!)” as a way to emphasize their opinion about
On the same point, they joke, “With apologies to Tolkien, “One motion to move them all, one rotation to spin them, one translation from the pole, and on the globe we’ll find them!”
I recommend this book for several types of readers. Certainly, fans of evolution theories and science in general will want to grab a copy of this book. Teachers of science will also find a lot of interesting passages and theories to consider. Science in its many subfields will come into play for the reader, for the authors discuss planets, geology, meteorology, primates, amphibians, and a host of other characters and developments in the scheme of life on this planet.
The book contains some content that will dovetail into units and lessons on science language and technical content. The book can be used as background reading for the teacher, reference material for the classroom, and suggested reading for student projects and reports on evolution because of the information, theories, arguments, and conclusions set forth. For example, the book may connect to the following Common Core Standards for Grades 11-12:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.8 Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.
For more advanced students and for those in honors and college-prep courses, the book can be used in relation to this standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
The book can also be used as required reading for graduate and advanced undergraduate science courses, suggested reading for seminars on evolution, and additional reading in a professional development (PD) session for teachers of science. As always, follow-up sessions, group discussions, interdisciplinary research, and self-reflection are beneficial additional activities for any advanced text being used in PD sessions over the summer or on several Saturdays during the school year.
Review of A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth, by Peter Ward & Joe Kischvink. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2015, cloth, 391 pages.
The authors have a great time presenting their exciting theories and arguments in this informative book. You can tell they really love the topics in this book and enjoy discussing them. This really comes out clearly upon reading.
Whether you are a botany teacher or a fan of dinosaurs, you also will enjoy the discussion of how life started on this planet. Without giving all the content away, I will say that even though my science background is limited (undergrad minor) I got a lot out of the book. It is entertaining and very interesting.
Some background in a lot of different science areas would be helpful for the readers, for the authors talk about Jurassic Park, plants, dinosaurs, oxygen, plate tectonics, chemistry, geology, paleontology, and on and on. The authors obviously have a great deal of interdisciplinary background and and make good use of their facility with many types of data, theories, schools of thought, and science traditions.
The authors make good use of humor, also, in putting forth their ideas. For example, they mention the period of time when many scientists feel nothing was happening in terms of major biological change, some calling this the boring billion years. The authors respond to this notion by saying, “A billion years is a long time for nothing to happen. But like so much else, the boring billion has recently been shown to be not so boring. New discoveries are showing us that life was not resting at all” (p. 90).
They mention on page 93 that there was no oxygen available during this same time, using a chart and this clever explanation: “Zero. Really zero. No whiffs.”
Regarding a theory about tectonic plate movement, they stress on page 141, “However, this would work only if Laurentia and Australia were roughly ninety degrees away from each other at the time (which—duh—had to be true if Australia was on the equator and Laurentia on the pole!)” as a way to emphasize their opinion about
On the same point, they joke, “With apologies to Tolkien, “One motion to move them all, one rotation to spin them, one translation from the pole, and on the globe we’ll find them!”
I recommend this book for several types of readers. Certainly, fans of evolution theories and science in general will want to grab a copy of this book. Teachers of science will also find a lot of interesting passages and theories to consider. Science in its many subfields will come into play for the reader, for the authors discuss planets, geology, meteorology, primates, amphibians, and a host of other characters and developments in the scheme of life on this planet.
The book contains some content that will dovetail into units and lessons on science language and technical content. The book can be used as background reading for the teacher, reference material for the classroom, and suggested reading for student projects and reports on evolution because of the information, theories, arguments, and conclusions set forth. For example, the book may connect to the following Common Core Standards for Grades 11-12:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.8 Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.
For more advanced students and for those in honors and college-prep courses, the book can be used in relation to this standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
The book can also be used as required reading for graduate and advanced undergraduate science courses, suggested reading for seminars on evolution, and additional reading in a professional development (PD) session for teachers of science. As always, follow-up sessions, group discussions, interdisciplinary research, and self-reflection are beneficial additional activities for any advanced text being used in PD sessions over the summer or on several Saturdays during the school year.
Review of A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries about the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth, by Peter Ward & Joe Kischvink. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2015, cloth, 391 pages.
Review by Thomas Hansen, Ph.D.
The authors have a great time presenting their exciting theories and arguments in this informative book. You can tell they really love the topics in this book and enjoy discussing them. This really comes out clearly upon reading.
Whether you are a botany teacher or a fan of dinosaurs, you also will enjoy the discussion of how life started on this planet. Without giving all the content away, I will say that even though my science background is limited (undergrad minor) I got a lot out of the book. It is entertaining and very interesting.
Some background in a lot of different science areas would be helpful for the readers, for the authors talk about Jurassic Park, plants, dinosaurs, oxygen, plate tectonics, chemistry, geology, paleontology, and on and on. The authors obviously have a great deal of interdisciplinary background and and make good use of their facility with many types of data, theories, schools of thought, and science traditions.
The authors make good use of humor, also, in putting forth their ideas. For example, they mention the period of time when many scientists feel nothing was happening in terms of major biological change, some calling this the boring billion years. The authors respond to this notion by saying, “A billion years is a long time for nothing to happen. But like so much else, the boring billion has recently been shown to be not so boring. New discoveries are showing us that life was not resting at all” (p. 90).
They mention on page 93 that there was no oxygen available during this same time, using a chart and this clever explanation: “Zero. Really zero. No whiffs.”
Regarding a theory about tectonic plate movement, they stress on page 141, “However, this would work only if Laurentia and Australia were roughly ninety degrees away from each other at the time (which—duh—had to be true if Australia was on the equator and Laurentia on the pole!)” as a way to emphasize their opinion about
On the same point, they joke, “With apologies to Tolkien, “One motion to move them all, one rotation to spin them, one translation from the pole, and on the globe we’ll find them!”
I recommend this book for several types of readers. Certainly, fans of evolution theories and science in general will want to grab a copy of this book. Teachers of science will also find a lot of interesting passages and theories to consider. Science in its many subfields will come into play for the reader, for the authors discuss planets, geology, meteorology, primates, amphibians, and a host of other characters and developments in the scheme of life on this planet.
The book contains some content that will dovetail into units and lessons on science language and technical content. The book can be used as background reading for the teacher, reference material for the classroom, and suggested reading for student projects and reports on evolution because of the information, theories, arguments, and conclusions set forth. For example, the book may connect to the following Common Core Standards for Grades 11-12:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.8 Evaluate the hypotheses, data, analysis, and conclusions in a science or technical text, verifying the data when possible and corroborating or challenging conclusions with other sources of information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.9 Synthesize information from a range of sources (e.g., texts, experiments, simulations) into a coherent understanding of a process, phenomenon, or concept, resolving conflicting information when possible.
For more advanced students and for those in honors and college-prep courses, the book can be used in relation to this standard:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
The book can also be used as required reading for graduate and advanced undergraduate science courses, suggested reading for seminars on evolution, and additional reading in a professional development (PD) session for teachers of science. As always, follow-up sessions, group discussions, interdisciplinary research, and self-reflection are beneficial additional activities for any advanced text being used in PD sessions over the summer or on several Saturdays during the school year.
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