Post World War I jewry in america - Essay Example

Post World War I Jews in America Anti-Semitism in America attained its climax during the interwar period. Jews were discriminated against in various fields such as in some employment, resort areas and social clubs and even in schools where they were given quota on enrollment to colleges. This saw to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, which vocalized the strength of attacks on the Jewish community (Mendes-Flohr and Judah, 59). It was also through the Anti-Semitic works of Henry Ford topped up with the radio speeches of Father Coughlin in the late 1930s that sort to combat the attacks on the Jewish community.

Rarely did the attacks turn violent although there were few recorded cases. Such include 1902 attack of Irish workers and police on the funeral procession of Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York City, the lynching of Leo Frank in 1915, the murder of Alan Berg in 1984, and the Crown Heights riots of 1991.Anti-Jewish waned off following the Second World War and the rise of the American Civil Right Movement. Claims by The Black Nation of Islam that Jews were responsible for black labor exploitation, introduction of drugs and alcohol and unfair denomination into the community was conclusively done away with following a survey done in 1964 by the Anti-Defamation League.

The survey revealed attitudes on anti-Semitism with the majority percentage of 29 Hispanic being most Anti-Semitic trailed by 36% for blacks and 9% for whites. The Jewish population has remained strong politically, mostly liberal with the democratic pattern continuing heavily into the 21st century. The vast majority of Jews, since 1936, have been recorded to have been Democrats. This saw to the 74% of the Jewish populous voting for John Kerry, a Catholic of partial Jewish descent in the year 2004.

Again in the year 2006 87% voted for Democratic candidates for the House (Mendes-Flohr and Judah, 62). Jews were fast becoming prominent in Congress and state governments through the country in the year 1990 and significantly proved to be ardent supporters of the American Civil Rights Movement.American Jews have since prospered throughout the early 21st century with them being disproportionately represented in academia, business, and politics. Going by Forbes, Forty-five percent of the top 40 of the 400 richest Americans are Jewish.

Twenty percent of professors in leading universities being Jews, Forty percent of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington, Thirty percent of American Nobel prize winners in science and 37 percent of all American Nobel winners are Jewish. Not forgetting another estimated thirty percent of Ivy League students are Jewish (Mendes-Flohr and Judah, 65).Demographically, their population is not increasing. Since 1960, it has not grown steadily. This is attributed to the high intermarriages and high assimilation into American culture, increasingly resulting in either a falling or steady population rate.

Study case reveals that Jewish population is lower than it was recorded in 1920, and an anticipated decline in the near decades. Through time, Jews have since moved to the suburbs, with major population shifts from New York and the Northeast to Florida and California. New Jewish organizations have also been established to stomach the increasing deviant ranges of Jewish worship and community activities, as well as geographic dispersal. Currently, the Jewish population is notably concentrated in bigger cities including, Florida, and the states of the Northeast.

Work citedMendes-Flohr, Paul, and Judah, Reinharz. “The Jew in the Modern World: A Documentary History.” New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Pp. 56-67.