Research Guides
Who We Are: Jewish Americans
Table of Contents
- From the ends of the earth : Judaic treasures of the Library of Congress.Call Number: LC 1.2:J 88Also available
The Columbia History of Jews and Judaism in America by ISBN: 9780231132220Publication Date: 2008-02-12
- Grant's General Order No. 11 (1862)Angry at the illegal trade in smuggled cotton and jumping to the conclusion that the local Jewish population was involved, Grant ordered the expulsion of all Jews from his military district which comprised parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Lincoln ordered him to reverse the decision.
For more, check out - Emergency Quota Act (1921)This act (also known as the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921, the Per Centum Law, and the Johnson Quota Act) was a major turning point in American Immigration Law as it was the first law to set numerical limits on immigration and use a quota system to do so.
- National Origins Act (Immigration Act of 1924)This act further restricted immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe and was mainly designed to target Italians and Jews. It also targeted Asian immigrants for exclusion. This act also updated domestic bureaucratic procedures like the visa system.
- MS St. Louis: The Voyage of the DamnedThe St. Louis departed from Hamburg in 1939 carrying 937 passengers, mostly Jewish refugees. Their original destination was Havana, but due to a change in immigration laws while they were in route all but 29 were denied entry. They were subsequently refused entry into the US and Canada due to immigration laws and prevailing antisemitism. In November 2018,
- Jewish Radicalism and the Red Scare: Introductory EssayThis essay also comes with a set of
- [Rosenberg Espionage Case Prosecution, and Sundry Atomic Energy Matters]
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- The Rosenberg letters : a complete edition of the prison correspondence of Julius and Ethel RosenbergCall Number: HX84.R578 A4 1994
Why Hollywood?
Hollywood became a target of Congressional anti-Communist efforts due in part to film content released during World War II in an effort to encourage the United States to enter the war against Nazi Germany. In the decades after the war, this was reinterpreted as pro-Communist. That the film industry had attracted a significant number of Jewish Americans did not do anything to dispel Communist suspicions. A number of notable Jewish Americans were called before the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify. Those hearings can be found on ProQuest Congressional (some of which are linked below) and in the Government Publications Stacks at call numbers beginning with [Y 4.UN 1/2:].
- [Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture industry]
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 1
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 2
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 3
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 4
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 5
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 6
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 7
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 8
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 9
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- Communist Infiltration of Hollywood Motion-Picture Industry. Part 10
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- Communist Activities Among Professional Groups in the Los Angeles Area. Part 1
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- Communist Activities Among Professional Groups in the Los Angeles Area. Part 2
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- Communist Activities Among Professional Groups in the Los Angeles Area. Part 3
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- Communist Activities Among Professional Groups in the Los Angeles Area. Part 4
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The American Embassy in Israel
The Trump Administration made headlines when they initiated the relocation of the American Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018, in time for the 70th anniversary of the creation of the modern state of Israel. The groundwork for this move was laid in 1995 with the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act. The site of the Jerusalem Embassy straddles the 1949-67 Armistice line between West Jerusalem and what the UN recognizes as "no-man's land." American-Israeli relations have wide-ranging impacts on Jewish Americans from public sentiment to legal cases like Zivotofsky et al. v. Secretary of State. And statehood in the southern Levant is deeply complicated. The following documents pertaining to the embassy move offer a window into perspectives on the issue.
- U.S. Embassy in IsraelFor more on the activities of the embassy, see their page.
- Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995. byCall Number: AE 2.110:104-45Online from
Passed in 1995, this law made the 2018 embassy move possible. A 60-day waiver for "National Security" reasons was built into the law, which was consistently used by Presidents Clinton, Bush, and Obama to delay the controversial move.
- Congressional Israel Allies CaucusThe Congressional Israel Allies Caucus inspired the establishment of 36 pro-Israel Caucuses in Parliaments worldwide, coordinated by the Israel Allies Foundation (IAF).
- The Problem of Alaskan Development byCall Number: I 1.2:Al 1/9Publication Date: 1939This plan written by Harold Slattery for Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes suggested resettling Jewish Refugees in Sitka, Alaska. It ultimately was not acted on.
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by ISBN: 9780007149827Publication Date: 2007Michael Chabon returned the proposal to our attention in 2007 in "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" which is set in an alternate America where this resettlement did take place.
Temple Beth Israel in Portland, Oregon is the oldest synagogue in the Pacific Northwest.
Image by Ian Poellet [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], from Wikimedia Commons.
- Anti-Defamation League PNW Regional Office"Created over seventy years ago, the Pacific Northwest office is dedicated to combatting anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and bigotry. Our efforts include investigating and exposing extremism, educating law enforcement regarding nuances of hate crimes, and handling victim complaints of anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination."
- Nomination of Felix Frankfurter : hearings before a subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary...Call Number: Y 4.J 89/2:F 85Publication Date: January 11, and 12, 1939One of the founders of the ACLU, Felix Frankfurter was nominated to the Supreme Court to replace Justice Cardozo. You can also access this hearing online through
Quantitative Data
Looking for quantitative resources? Try these:
- U.S. Statistics GuideStatistics resources from the UW Libraries.
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
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You can select the "Religion" datasets to explore by a number of population variables.
- America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
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Scholarly articles on American and Canadian history - U.S. Federal Legislative History Library This link opens in a new window
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An expansive collection of federal legislative histories from the U.S. GPO and private publishers. - Index to Jewish Periodicals This link opens in a new window
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Comprehensive guide to English-language articles, book reviews, and feature stories on contemporary Jewish and Middle Eastern affairs.
