"Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives."
~ Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1966
The Kennesaw State University Department of Museums, Archives, and Rare Books (MARB) presents exhibitions, public programs, collections, and educational services supporting KSU’s mission and encouraging dialogue about the past and its significance today. This online unit is part of a series of units designed for university students to explore pivotal moments in history through a diverse selection of source materials.
Based on the Museum of History and Holocaust Education's traveling exhibition Enduring Tension: (En)Countering Antisemitism in Every Age, this module explores the long history of anti-Jewish bias in the United States within an international context.
The exhibit asks two critical questions:
- Must we live with hate?
- And if we believe that hatred must be combated, what are the best ways to do so?
As you explore this module, keep these essential questions in mind and engage with additional questions to consider and opportunities for further research. Please consult your instructor on their preferred way for you to share your answers to questions and the results of your research.
Enduring Tension was generously funded by the Breman Foundation based in Atlanta, Georgia. It is presented by the Kennesaw State University Museum of History and Holocaust Education in partnership with the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.
Image Across: Enduring Tension exhibit panels, Museum of History and Holocaust Education, September 2018. Courtesy Museum of History and Holocaust Education
Top Image: Citizens Protesting Antisemitic Acts in Billings, Montana, 1994. Photo by Frederic Brenner, courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery
Table of Contents
Image: Beth Sholom Synagogue, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1954. Courtesy Beth Sholom Synagogue Preservation Foundation
Introduction
What does it mean to endure?
Endurance implies that something is long-lasting or never-ending. But it also implies resilience and strength. Antisemitism has endured for more than twenty centuries. But the Jewish people have endured as well.
Image: Kahol Kadosh Beth Elohim Synagogue, Charleston South Carolina, 1938. Courtesy Library of Congress
Exploring Synagogue Architecture
This exhibit uses an architectural motif for the panels and gallery guide to explore the idea of "tension" in building design. The images of synagogues that appear throughout this exhibit raise important questions:
- What does it take for Jews to build a synagogue in their community?
- What does architecture communicate to the world?
To choose to build a synagogue, Jews must feel rooted in their community. They make a choice to be a visible part of the civic infrastructure. Synagogue architecture reflects the prevailing culture of the place and time. It also reflects the hopes and dreams of the community — its desire to endure.
Architecture also serves as a visual metaphor for tensile strength. Structures gather strength from the joining together of weight and counterweight. They must be able to bend and withstand impact so they do not crumble. But if they crumble, they also demonstrate the strength of the community in their ability to be rebuilt.
Image: Central Synagogue, New York City, courtesy Wally Gobetz via Flikr Commons
Digging Deeper
Click the link below to search for synagogues in the National Register of Historic Places.
Once you've selected a synagogue of interest to you, answer the following questions:
- When was the synagogue first built? If it was modified or renovated, when did that occur?
- What do you think motivated the religious community to build the synagogue?
- What does the synagogue's architectural style make you think about?
- What do you think the building's creators hoped to communicate through their choice of architecture?
Image: The Temple, Atlanta, Georgia, 2007, courtesy David via Flikr Commons
A Global History
Stereotypes in Popular Culture
With a history stretching back more than 2000 years, antisemitism has perpetuated itself through a variety of depictions in popular culture, in addition to anti-Jewish laws and regulations around the globe.
The Dreyfus Affair, described in detail in the gallery guide for this exhibit, spawned numerous paintings and prints to accompany depictions in the press. In turn, Jewish people and their allies used popular culture to push back against defamation and negative stereotypes.
Digging Deeper
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum holds a collection of over 500 artifacts representing antisemitic depictions in popular culture. Click the button below to search the collection.
Select an item from the collection, and answer the following questions:
- When and where was this artifact or image created?
- What physical features stand out to you about it?
- What do you think these characteristics were meant to convey about Jewish people?
- How might you go about working to counter these stereotypes if confronted by someone who believes them to be true?
Image: Manor pitcher in the shape of Fagin, a character from the novel Oliver Twist, 1838-1840, by Charles Dickens. Dickens employed Jewish stereotypes of unscrupulousness and exploitation in his depiction of the criminal Fagin who controlled the band of pickpockets into which the small boy Oliver Twist is press-ganged. Courtesy United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
Jews in Early America
Jews living in North America since well before the establishment of the United States have navigated a balance between the dominant cultures of the regions in which they lived and the desire to maintain a separate group identity. Within the Black-white dichotomy that traditionally pervaded racial thinking in the United States, most European Jews endeavored to be seen as white, while many also sympathized with the oppression of Black people, especially after the abolition of slavery following the Civil War.
Digging Deeper
Jewish historical and cultural museums in the North and the South have worked hard to present the breadth and depth of Jewish identity in the United States through images, artifacts, and stories.
Examine the collections and stories told in the following museums.
Select one artifact or story from a southern museum and one artifact or story from a northern museum that relates to roughly the same time period, then answer the following questions.
- How are these stories similar?
- How are they different?
- What role do you think that Jewish identity plays in these stories?
- What role do you think that regional identity plays in these stories?
- What role, if any, do you think that racial identity plays in these stories?
Image: Congregation Mickveh Israel, built in 1878, Savannah, Georgia. The first synagogue was erected in 1820 for a Savannah Jewish community established in 1733. Courtesy Shalom Says Hello
Defining the Nation
Between 1880 and 1924, more than 2.5 million Jews came to the United States, mostly from Central and Eastern Europe. They joined a Jewish population that had already increased 100-fold between 1820 and 1880. The surge of immigrants at the turn of the 20th century became a source of anxiety for many people living in the United States who feared that unchecked immigration would fundamentally diminish the racial and cultural character of the United States. Politicians hoping to stop immigrants circulated antisemitic propaganda while promoting pseudoscientific racial theories. Their successful efforts resulted in the passage of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924.
Although anti-immigrant sentiment prevailed during this time, advocates for immigrant communities pushed back against negative portrayals in the media using tools ranging from poetry and plays to anthropological essays and letters to the editor.
Digging Deeper
Explore the Library of Congress's collection of primary sources related to Jewish immigration.
Select one primary source from the collection that you feel represents opportunities associated with immigration and one primary source that represents challenges associated with immigration, and then answer the following questions:
- Who created your primary source, and why?
- How does your source represent opportunities or challenges for immigrants?
- How does your source relate to ideas about American identity at the time of its creation?
- How does your source relate to ideas about American identity that you have now?
Consider the resources offered by the Museum of History and Holocaust Education related to turning points in U.S. immigration history, and then answer the following questions.
- What global events have influenced changes in U.S. immigration policy?
- How have ideas about American identity changed over time?
Image: Irving Berlin (1888-1989) and Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) “Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,” from Miss Liberty, 1949. Piano vocal score. Irving Berlin Collection. Courtesy Music Division, Library of Congress (48)
Blaming Outsiders
The resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1910s and 1920s was due in part to a fear of increasing socio-political status for Black Americans and a desire to maintain a vision of white supremacy that was racially and religiously pure. In addition to targeting Black people, the Klan targeted Catholics, Jews, and recent immigrants.
This period of racial terror also saw the rise of resilient organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Urban League, intended to protect and promote the welfare of targeted groups while working for civil and human rights for all.
Digging Deeper
Explore this resource pack on the Ku Klux Klan compiled by the National Humanities Center.
Choose a pro-Klan publication or cartoon, and and anti-Klan publication or cartoon and consider the following questions:
- How did the Klan express its purpose?
- What concerned the Klan's opponents the most about the Klan?
- How did opponents of the Klan combat its actions?
- How did opponents of the Klan combat its ideas?
- How might you use media to combat antisemitic or racist ideas today?
Explore Further: "Skin in the Game"
Watch Emory University's 12th Annual Rothschild Lecture, hosted by the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, which featured a conversation between Eric K. Ward, Executive Director of the Western States Center and nationally-recognized expert on the relationship between authoritarian movements, hate violence, and preserving inclusive democracy, and TIJS Judith London Evans Director Eric Goldstein, author of The Price of Whiteness: Jews, Race, and American Identity.
Image: This robe and hood, worn by a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, was donated to the Breman Museum in Atlanta by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith. Courtesy William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum
Responses to the Holocaust
Despite plentiful knowledge of the rapidly deteriorating situation for European Jews in the 1930s, the United States did not ease immigration restrictions to accept more refugees from Nazi Germany. This attitude was the rule, rather than the exception, on the eve of World War II.
While national policy remained unresponsive, efforts were made by small groups of activists to find refuge through networks within the scientific community and higher education. Among these heroic efforts were those made by Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to find placements for Jewish refugee professors during the 1930s and 1940s.
Digging Deeper
The incident of the M.S. St. Louis provides a case study for international responses to Nazi terror against Jewish people in the 1930s. Explore the Museum of History and Holocaust Education's Resources about the St. Louis here.
Then, take a look at the resources complied by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum here.
After looking at these materials, consider the following questions.
- What options were available to people hoping to flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s?
- How was the incident of the M.S. St. Louis typical or atypical of Jewish refugee experiences on the eve of World War II?
- What options were available to Jewish survivors after the Holocaust?
- How might you work to convince people to aid refugees today?
Image: "The public wondered if the Evian Conference would result in a solution for those being forced out of the Reich." Strube, George. Whither. July 3, 1938. Cartoon. The New York Times. http://enc.wymaninstitute.org/?p=190.
The Price of Social Justice
World War II cemented the status of most Jewish people in the United States as white. As the Black freedom movement and advocacy for civil rights gained momentum in the 1950s and 1960s, Jewish people in the North and the South found themselves navigating tensions between a moral call to support civil rights efforts and fear of antisemitic reprisals from those who continued to advocate for white supremacy.
Rabbis, as spiritual and community leaders for their congregations, played an important role in guiding the pace of actions taken by members of Jewish communities in support of civil rights. Some, like Abraham Joshua Heschel and Jacob Rothschild, worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Others, such as Rabbi Milton Grafman of Birmingham, Alabama, advocated for caution and moderation.
Digging Deeper
Explore the civil rights era stories in the Museum of History and Holocaust Education's Black + Jewish: A Conversational Companion.
Watch the video from the Breman Museum's program "Why We Went: A Discussion on the June 18th 1964 Sit-In"
Choose a profile from the Conversational Companion or the "Why We Went" discussion and then answer the following questions:
- What role did the person you picked play in the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century?
- Why do you think they played the role that they did?
- How did they try to convince others of their position?
- What are the risks and benefits of standing up for marginalized people today?
- How might you choose to work for positive social change?
Image: Mayor Hartsfield and Rabbi Rothschild examine the damage from the bomb blast at the Temple, 1958. AJCP219-004a, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Photographic Archives. Courtesy Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
Combating Hate
The story of the people of Billings, Montana, who chose to place a paper menorah in their windows to protest skinheads in the 1990s is one of many stories of people coming together to fight against hate throughout U.S. and world history.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr. A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches
Antisemitism remains interconnected with racism and other forms of inter-group bias that continue to plague the human species. At the conclusion of this module, we return to the question where we started: "Do we have to live with hate?" Even if the answer is, "yes," we can help each other find the tools we need to endure, as we fight against it in every generation.
The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
~ Elie Wiesel
Image: Menorah printed in December 1993 after a rock was thrown through the window of the Schnitzer home in Billings, Montana. Courtesy Billings Gazette
Epilogue
Hate Speech in the Digital Age
It is time for technology companies to design their products for democracy. This does not just mean a facile attempt to protect or prioritize free speech. It means protecting minority and religious groups, which are integral to successful democracy but also disproportionately the targets of computational propaganda.
~ ADL Center for Society and Technology Report, October 2018
The power of communications technology in the 21st century is undeniable. Digital publishing, powered by social media, enables people to create and expand communities around shared values at unprecedented rates. Free speech is the bedrock of democracy, but the anonymity and automation of the digital landscape, combined with unwillingness by public figures to call out prejudice and bigotry, has challenged traditional methods for countering hostile environments through social pressure.
Although the platforms may be new, when it comes to antisemitism, the tropes most popular with members of the Alt-Right and allied individuals on social media reflect age-old stereotypes. Between January 29, 2017 and January 28, 2018, the ADL documented about 4.2 million antisemitic tweets issued by approximately three million unique handles. In addition to “traditional” references to Jews as controllers of banks and under-miners of culture, these tweets included code words and newly-minted antisemitic symbols, such as the “((()))” echo symbol. In the world of online hate speech, antisemitism intersects with the many ways in which people voice their fears, from anti-immigrant sentiment, to racism and global conspiracy theories.
Image: Chart tracking antisemitic activity on Twitter between January 2017 and January 2018. Courtesy Anti-Defamation League, 2018. Blocked or banned on Twitter and other mainstream platforms, some proponents of hate speech fled to more permissive platforms such as Gab and 8chan
Fighting Hate in Charlottesville
Galvanized by efforts to remove Confederate monuments after nine members of an African American church were killed by a white supremacist in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, a coalition of white nationalists, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists and others organized a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. Participants were also united by antisemitism, chanting “Jews shall not replace us” and other hateful slogans. Participants and counter-protesters used social media to drum up support. After a white supremacist killed a counter-protester with his car, President Donald Trump responded with an ambiguous statement on social media condemning hatred without explicitly denouncing the white supremacists. Counterprotesters, in turn, used social media to shame participants in the rally, leading some to be fired from their jobs.
Image: Alt-right members preparing to enter Emancipation Park holding Nazi, Confederate, and Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flags, August 12, 2017. Photo by Anthony Crider
Murder at the Tree of Life Synagogue
The wolves of hate are loose. No one is safe.
~ Melissa Faye Greene, author of The Temple Bombing, referencing a 1958 editorial by Ralph McGill of the Atlanta Constitution in which he wrote, “You do not preach and encourage hatred for the Negro and hope to restrict it to that field. It is an old, old story. It is one repeated over and over again in history. When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe.”
Less than a week before Enduring Tension was slated to open, the United States witnessed the worst act of antisemitic violence in its national history. On October 27, 2018, Robert D. Bowers walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and opened fire on the congregants preparing for Shabbat morning services, killing eleven people. Hours before, he had given voice to his deeply rooted antisemitism and acute fear of immigrants, targeting the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a Jewish organization that evolved from helping Jewish refugees after the Holocaust to providing support for refugees and immigrants all around the world. He wrote, “HIAS likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”
Bowers’ victims were elders in the community—doctors, dentists, developers, former synagogue presidents. They included brothers, husbands, wives, and a new grandfather awaiting his grandson’s brit-milah, an official welcome into the Jewish community. Shortly after being apprehended by the police, Bowers’ wounds were treated at Jewish hospital.
The attack at the Tree of Life Synagogue carries echoes of the 2015 murders at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. It also carries echoes of the 1958 Temple bombing in Atlanta. It came during a week when hate-filled people sent pipe-bombs to opponents of the American president, killed exercisers in a yoga studio, and murdered Black Americans shopping at a grocery store. A week later, America’s synagogues were filled with supportive members of their larger communities during a “solidarity Shabbat,” showing the world that love is stronger than hate. But the fight against hatred must continue.
Image: Memorials for the 11 people killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue, October 29, 2018. NBC News Image by Matt Rourke. The individuals killed include Rose Mallinger, 97, Joyce Fienberg, 75, Irving Younger, 69, Melvin Wax, 87, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, 86 and 84, Jerry Rabinowitz, Richard Gottfried, Daniel Stein, and Cecil and David Rosenthal.
Resources for Further Reading
If the content of this module has piqued your interest, please consider checking out the following resources to further your exploration.
Image: Tweet from Linda Sarsour showing #SafetyInSolidarity rally held in Brooklyn, New York, following a rash of antisemitic incidents. Courtesy AsAm News
