This course explores the history of antisemitism in America, from the colonial era to contemporary times. While we shall devote special attention to key episodes like General U.S. Grant’s expulsion of “Jews as a Class” from his Civil War warzone in 1862 as well as Gilded-Age antisemitism, the goal is to understand antisemitism both deeply and broadly. Students should be prepared to read and analyze some “hard core” antisemitic in this class. It is impossible to understand antisemitism without reading the primary sources themselves, however odious they may be. We will also look at what history can teach us concerning contemporary antisemitism.
Session 1: Is America Different?
This opening class will overview the dynamics of American Antisemitism and consider features of US antisemitism that, historically, have distinguished it from classic European antisemitism.
Session 2: When General Grant Expelled the Jews: The First Major Episode of American Antisemitism and its Implications
General Ulysses S. Grant’s Order expelling “Jews as a Class” from his warzone in late 1862 attracted international attention and was the first major episode of American antisemitism to attract international attention. The episode then became an issue in the American presidential campaign of 1868, when Grant ran for President. Surprisingly, by the time Grant died he had become a hero for Jews. An analysis of this singular episode sheds light on American antisemitism and Jewish responses to it in the Civil War and afterwards.
Session 3: Antisemitism Re-Emerges, 1877- World War I
Antisemitism re-emerged in the United States during the Gilded Age, when attacks on “Jews as a race” became commonplace, and Jews faced numerous restrictions, even from institutions that previously had accepted them. Massive immigration of Jews, prior to World War I, reinforced antisemitism in the early 20th century, leading to fears that “unassimilable” Jews would change America itself.
Session 4: A Century of American Antisemitism: 1920-2026
Drawing Upon what we have learned in our in-depth study of American antisemitism through World War I, we will review developments over the past century: the high-tide of American antisemitism during the inter-war years, the steady decline of antisemitism, 1950-2000, and the resurgence in the 21st century.
Spring 2026
Online
4
March 17, March 24, March 31, April 7 2026
Tuesdays, 11:00AM - 12:00PM
Jonathan D. Sarna is University Professor and the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History (emeritus) at Brandeis University. He also is the past president of the Association for Jewish Studies and Chief Historian of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia. Author or editor of more than thirty books on American Jewish history and life, his "American Judaism: A History," now in its second edition, won six awards including the 2004 “Everett Jewish Book of the Year Award” from the Jewish Book Council. Sarna is a fellow both of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Academy of Jewish Research, and he holds five honorary degrees. His most recent books are "Coming to Terms with America," a volume of essays now translated into Hebrew under the title "Zehuyot Bemifgash (Mercaz Shazar);" and "Yearning to Breathe Free: Jews in Gilded Age America," coedited with Adam Mendelsohn.
