SISJE 490D 7456 (5 credits)
Thursday 1:30-3:20
Department of History
University of Washington

Professor: Dr. Aviva Ben-Ur
Classroom: Balmer 4
Office: Thomson 226
Office Telephone: (206) 543-1709
Office Hours: Thursday 12:00-1:00 and by appointment
e-mail: abenur@u.washington.edu
 

Overview

 America/The United States has always placed enormous emphasis on ethnicity and race,
both on an official level (e.g. slavery, racial censuses, national origin quotas) and on a
layman's level (social taboos regarding intermarriage; ethnic and racial stereotyping;
ethnic and racial strife).  Where does the Jewish community fit into these configurations?
 This course focuses on the American Jewish community from 1654 until the present. We
will explore self- and ascriptive Jewish identity through three often overlapping lenses:
religious, ethnic and racial.  Topics to be considered include Jewish identity as white,
Asian, African, non-white, and "other"; American Jewish efforts to secure "white status";
and inter- and intra-ethnic relations, particularly Ashkenazic/Sephardic, Jewish/African
American and Jewish/Hispanic.  A special emphasis will be placed on the impact of
Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews (Jews of Iberian, African and Middle Eastern origins) and on
the image and identity of the American Jewish community.  This course will combine
historical with sociological approaches, emphasizing "race" as an ever-transforming,
socially constructed category.

Required textbooks and readings

 The following books have been ordered from the college bookstore and are required for
all students:

Azoulay, Katya Gibel.  Black, Jewish and Interracial: It's Not the Color of Your Skin, but
the Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity.  Durham and London: Duke University
Press: 1997.

Maurice Berger.  White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness.  New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1999.

Marla Brettschneider, ed.  The Narrow Bridge: Jewish Views on Multiculturalism. New
Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1996.

Brodkin, Karen.  How Jews Became White Folks & What That Says About Race in
America.  New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press, 1998.

Optional textbooks:

 The following books have been ordered from the college bookstore and are optional for all
students:

Eli Faber.  Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting the Record Straight.  New York:
New York University Press, 1998.

Stanley Nadel.  Little Germany: Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in New York City, 1845-80.
 Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1990.

Julius Lester.  Lovesong: Becoming a Jew.  H. Holt, 1988.

On reserve:

All assigned articles are on both regular and electronic reserve.  For the convenience of
students, some articles are to be found in both article form and within the original book or
volume.  All assigned books are on regular reserve.

Course Requirements
 This class emphasizes both attendance and class participation.  Each class will focus on
the assigned readings and discussions of these readings.  Reading averages 160 pages
per class.  Graduate students are assigned occasional additional readings.  In each class,
one or two students will give a brief presentation on the readings and then lead the class in
the discussion.  There will be a few announced quizzes on the readings and a final
open-book exam in the form of short answers and essay questions.  Final exams of
graduate students will also include a question on graduate student readings (those listed in
this syllabus.)

Grading:
Participation in class discussion-1/3
oral presentation and quizzes-1/3
final exam-1/3

Week 1, September 30: Overview: Jewish Self- and Ascribed Identity and Jewish
Intra- and Inter-Ethnic Relations

To be read in conjunction with readings for Week 2:

Robert Singerman.  "Introduction."  American Jewish History 77:1 (September 1987): 4-5.

Scott Cline.  "Jewish-Ethnic Interactions: A Bibliographical Essay."  American Jewish
History 77:1 (September 1987): 135-154.

"The American Experience."  In The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History,
ed. Paul R. Mendes-Flohr and Jehuda Reinharz, New York and Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1980, pp.354-356.

Week 2, October 7: "Old" Sephardim: Setting the Stage

Source documents from colonial America (Peter Stuyvesant and the Dutch West India
Company), in Jacob Rader Marcus, The Jew in the American World: A Source Book,
pp.29-33.

Discussion on these documents and period in Jacob Marcus, The Colonial American
Jew, vol. 1, pp.215-243.

Mordecai Manuel Noah.  "Zipra Nunez's Account of the Family's Escape."  Diane Matza,
ed., Sephardic-American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy.  Waltham,
Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 1997, pp.23-24.

Nathan Glazer.  American Judaism, pp.12-21.

Marcus, Jacob Rader.  "The American Colonial Jew: A Study in Acculturation", pp.6-17.  In
Jonathan Sarna, ed., The American Jewish Experience, New York and London: Holmes &
Meier, 1997.

Howard Sachar.  "A Foothold in the Early Americas," pp.9-37.  In Sachar, A History of the
Jews in America, New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

Norton B. Stern and William M. Kramer.  "The Historical Recovery of the Pioneer
Sephardic Jews of California."  Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly 8:1 (October
1975): 3-25.

Norton B. Stern and William M. Kramer.  "Sephardic Leadership of Early California Jewish
Life."  Western States Jewish History 17:3 (April 1985): 227-230.

William M. Kramer.  "A Sephardic B'nai B'rith Leader: David A. D'Ancona, 1827-1908."
 Western States Jewish History 21: 4 (July 1989): 313-321.

John Appel.  "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Presentation of the Spanish Jews."
 Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society 45 (1955-6): 20-34.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  "The Jewish Cemetery at Newport."  The Poetical Works of
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1884,
pp.216-217.

Week 3, October 14: Jews and/as Germans

Barry E. Supple, "A Business Elite: German-Jewish Financiers in Nineteenth-Century New
York, pp.98-115.  In Jonathan Sarna, ed., The American Jewish Experience.

Michael A. Meyer.  "Jews as Jews Versus Jews as Germans: Two Historical
Perspectives-Introduction to Year Book XXXVl" In Leo Baeck Year Book 36, pp.XV-XXll.

Michael A. Meyer.  "German-Jewish Identity in Nineteenth-Century America" in Jacob Katz,
ed., Toward Modernity: The European Jewish Model (New Brunswick, New Jersey:
Transaction Books, 1987, 247-267.

Stanley Nadel.  "Jewish Race and German Soul in Nineteenth-Century America."
 American Jewish History 77:1 (September 1987): 6-26.

Stanley Nadel.  "Introduction," (pp.1-11); chapter five ("Religion", 91-103); chapter six
("Social Life", pp.104-121); and chapter nine ("Particularism,"... pp.155-162.)  In Nadel,
Little Germany: Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in New York City, 1845-1880.

Howard Sachar, "The Germanization of American Jewry," pp.38-71.  In Sachar, A History
of the Jews in America, New York: Vintage Books, 1992.

Nathan Glazer, American Judaism, pp.22-42.

The "Traif Banquet" and The Pittsburgh Liberal Religious Platform, November 16-18,
1885.  In Jacob Rader Marcus, The Jew in the American World: A Source Book,
pp.240-243.

Week 4, October 21: Jews and/as Eastern Europeans

Howard Sachar, "The East European Avalanche Begins," and "The Golden Door Closes,"
pp.116-139 and 300-334.  In Sachar, A History of the Jews in America.

Sorin, Gerald, A Time for Building: The Third Migration, 1880-1920, pp.12-37.

Ewa Morawska.  "A Replica of the 'Old-Country' Relationship in the Ethnic Niche: East
European Jews and Gentiles in Small-Town Western Pennsylvania, 1880's-1930's."
 American Jewish History 77:1 (September 1987): 27-86.

Harold Troper and Morton Weinfeld.  "Jewish-Ukrainian Relations in Canada Since World
War ll and the Emergence of the Nazi War Criminal Issue."  American Jewish History 77:1
(1987): 106-134.

Nathan Glazer, American Judaism, pp.60-78.

"Congressional Committee on Immigration: Temporary Suspension of Immigration
(1920)."  In The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History, pp.405-407.

Week 5, October 28: German and Eastern European Jews

Moses Rischin, "Germans versus Russians," in Jonathan D. Sarna, The American Jewish
Experience, pp.136-150.

Jeffrey S. Gurock, "Introduction"; Deborah Dash Moore, "The Ideal Slum"; and Selma
Berrol, "German Versus Russians: An Update."  American Jewish History 73 (December
1983): 133-156.

Zosa Szajkowski, "The Yahudi and the Immigrant: A Reappraisal," American Jewish
Historical Quarterly 63 (September 1973): 13-45.

Week 6, November 4: Jews as a Racial, Religious and/or Ethnic Group

Rogoff, Leonard, "Is the Jew White?" The Racial Place of the Southern Jew," American
Jewish History 85:3 (September 1997): 195-230.

Eric L. Goldstein.  'Different Blood Flows in Our Veins': Race and Jewish Self-Definition in
Late Nineteenth Century America."  American Jewish History 85:1 (1997): 29-55.

Montagu, introduction, pp.31-40 and chapter 4, "The Biological Facts," pp.121-143 and
chapter 8, "Biological and Social Factors," 193-223.  Montagu, Ashley.  Man's Most
Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race.  Sixth Edition.  Abridged Student Edition, 1998.

Marshall, Eliot.  "Cultural Anthropology: DNA Studies Challenge the Meaning of Race."
 Science 282: 5389 (23 October 1998): 654-655.

Jonathan D. Sarna, "From Immigrants to Ethnics: Toward a New Theory of 'Ethnicization'",
in Ethnicity 5 (1978): 370-378.

Simon Rawidowicz.  "Libertas Differendi: The Right to Be Different", in Benjamin C. I.
Ravid, ed., Israel: The Ever-Dying People and Other Essays, London and Toronto:
Associated University Presses, 1986, pp.118-129.

Jonathan D. Sarna.  "American Anti-Semitism", in History and Hate: The Dimensions of
Anti-Semitism, ed. David Berger, Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America,
1986, pp.115-128.

Ben Halpern.  "America is Different", in American Jews-A Reader, ed. Marshall Sklare,
New York: Behrman House Inc., 1983, pp.23-45.

Week 7, November 11: Jews and/as Hispanics/Latinos

Angel, Marc D.  "The Sephardim of the United States: An Exploratory Study."  American
Jewish Year Book 74 (1973): 77-138.

Seymour B. Liebman.  "Cuban Jewish Community in South Florida."  A Coat of Many
Colors: Jewish Subcommunities in the United States., ed. Abraham D. Lavender,
Greenwood Press, 1977, pp.298-304.

Howard Sachar, "A Renewed Sephardic Influx," pp.337-340.  In Sachar, A History of the
Jews in America.

Ben-Ur, Aviva.   "Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) Press" and "Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) Theater,"
in Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, 1997.

"Postemas de Mujer" ("Pet Peeves of a Woman").  An advice column by Bula Satula
(Pseudonym of Moise B. Soulam), in La Vara ("The Staff," New York) November 30, 1928.
 

Victor Perera.  "The IQ and I: My Adventures Near the Bottom of the Bell Curve."
 pp.106-116.  In Diane Matza, ed., Sephardic-American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a
Literary Legacy, Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 1997.

Stanley M. Hordes.  "The Inquisition and the Crypto-Jewish Community in Colonial New
Spain and New Mexico."  Western States Jewish History 24:2 (January 1992): 106-118.

David S. Nadel.  "Modern Descendants of Conversos in New Mexico."  Western States
Jewish History 16:3 (April 1984): 249-262.

Richard G. Santos.  "Chicanos of Jewish Descent in Texas."  Western States Jewish
Historical Quarterly 15:4 (July 1983): 327-333.

Trudi Alexy.  "Crypto-Jews of the American Southwest."  Western States Jewish History
27:1 (October 1994): 73-86.

Judith Neulander.  "Crypto-Jews of the Southwest: An Imagined Community."  Jewish
Folklore and Ethnology Review 16:1 (1994): 64-68.

David Mayer Gradwohl.  "On Vestiges and Identities: Some Thoughts on the Controversy
Concerning 'Crypto-Jews' in the American Southwest" and letters to editor.  In Jewish
Folklore and Ethnology Review 18: 1-2 (1996): 83-87.

Peter Beinart.  "New Bedfellows."  The New Republic (August 11 & 18 1997): 22-26.

Graduate students:

Selma C. Berrol.  "The Jewish West Side of New York City, 1920-1970.  The Journal of
Ethnic Studies 13: 4 (Winter 1986): 21-45.

Week 8, November 18: Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews

Aviva Ben-Ur.  Chapter 3 ("Sephardic/Ashkenazic Encounters", pp.55-99) and
appendices pp.280-334.  Where Diasporas Met: Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews in the
City of New York: A Study in Intra-Ethnic Relations, 1880-1950.  Ph.D. dissertation,
Brandeis University, 1998.

Articles from the American Ladino press.  Marion Golde, "Children of the Inquisition";
"Voice of the People", 5/24/18; and "Voice of the People," 5/31/18.

Walter P. Zenner.  "Common Ethnicity and Separate Identities: Interaction Between Jewish
Immigrant Groups."  International and Intercultural Communication Annual 11 (1987):
267-285.

Week 9, November 25 (to be rescheduled): How the Jews Became White

Brodkin, Karen.  How Jews Became White Folks & What That Says About Race in
America.  New Brunswick, New Jersey and London: Rutgers University Press, 1998.

Week 10, December 2: Jews and/as African Americans

June Purcell Guild.  Black Laws of Virginia: A Summary of the Legislative Acts of Virginia
Concerning Negroes from Earliest Times to the Present.  New York: Negro Universities
Press, 1936, p.49.

Eli Faber.  Introduction (pp.1-10); chapter 6 ("Jewish Merchants and Slavery...",
pp.131-142) and Conclusion (pp.143-146.)  Jews, Slaves, and the Slave Trade: Setting
the Record Straight.  New York: New York University Press, 1998.

Azoulay, Katya Gibel.  "Prelude" (pp.1-29); and chapter 4 ("Black, Jewish, and Interracial
(ll)", pp.120-177.)  Black, Jewish and Interracial: It's Not the Color of Your Skin, but the
Race of Your Kin, and Other Myths of Identity.  (Selected pages.)

Dina Dahbany-Miraglia.  "American Yemenite Jews: Interethnic Strategies," Persistence &
Flexibility: Anthropological Perspectives on the American Jewish Experience.  Walter P.
Zenner, ed.  New York: State University of New York Press, pp.63-78.

Maurice Berger.  White Lies: Race and the Myths of Whiteness.  New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 1999, pp.5-8; 13-14; 40-42; 78; 102-3; 107-109; 110-111 and 114.

Graduate students:

Julius Lester.  Lovesong: Becoming a Jew.  H. Holt, 1988.

William Toll.  "Pluralism and Moral Force in the Black-Jewish Dialogue."  American Jewish
History 77:1 (1987): 87-105.

Epilogue: (all students)

Mary C. Waters.  "Flux and Choice in American Ethnicity."  In Mary C. Waters, Ethnic
Options: Choosing Identities in America, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford: University of
California Press, 1990, pp.16-51 and 169.

Ethnic/Racial background survey forms.  (Listed under "Queens College Applicant... and
"Voluntary Information Survey...")

Final In-Class Exam: Friday, December 10