The Price of Whiteness

Zusatztext "[An] imaginative, provocative, and well-researched book." ---Edward S. Shapiro, Congress Monthly Informationen zum Autor Eric L. Goldstein is associate professor of history and Jewish studies at Emory University. He is also the editor of the quarterly scholarly journal American Jewish History . Klappentext What has it meant to be Jewish in a nation preoccupied with the categories of black and white? The Price of Whiteness documents the uneasy place Jews have held in America's racial culture since the late nineteenth century. The book traces Jews' often tumultuous encounter with race from the 1870s through World War II, when they became vested as part of America's white mainstream and abandoned the practice of describing themselves in racial terms. American Jewish history is often told as a story of quick and successful adaptation, but Goldstein demonstrates how the process of identifying as white Americans was an ambivalent one, filled with hard choices and conflicting emotions for Jewish immigrants and their children. Jews enjoyed a much greater level of social inclusion than African Americans, but their membership in white America was frequently made contingent on their conformity to prevailing racial mores and on the eradication of their perceived racial distinctiveness. While Jews consistently sought acceptance as whites, their tendency to express their own group bonds through the language of "race" led to deep misgivings about what was required of them. Today, despite the great success Jews enjoy in the United States, they still struggle with the constraints of America's black-white dichotomy. The Price of Whiteness concludes that while Jews' status as white has opened many doors for them, it has also placed limits on their ability to assert themselves as a group apart. Zusammenfassung Documents the uneasy place Jews have held in America's racial culture since the late nineteenth century. This book traces Jews' often tumultuous encounter with race from the 1870s through World War II, when they became vested as part of America's white mainstream and abandoned the practice of describing themselves in racial terms. Inhaltsverzeichnis LIST OF FIGURES ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi INTRODUCTION 1 PART I: THE JEWISH "RACE" IN AMERICA! 1875-1895 CHAPTER 1: "Different Blood Flows in Our Veins": Race and Jewish Self-Definition in Late-Nineteenth-Century America 11 PART II: JEWS IN BLACK AND WHITE! 1896-1918 CHAPTER 2: The Unstable Other: Locating Jews in Progressive Era American Racial Discourse 35 CHAPTER 3: "Now Is the Time to Show Your True Colors": The Jewish Approach to African Americans 51 CHAPTER 4: "What Are We?":Jewishness between Race and Religion 86 PART III: CONFRONTING JEWISH DIFFERENCE! 1919-1935 CHAPTER 5: Race and the "Jewish Problem" in Interwar America 119 CHAPTER 6: "A White Race of Another Kind"? 138 CHAPTER 7: Wrestling with Racial Jewishness 165 PART IV: FROM OLD CHALLENGES TO NEW! 1936-1950 CHAPTER 8: World War II and the Transformation of Jewish Racial Identity 189 EPILOGUE: Jews! Whiteness! and "Tribalism" in Multicultural America 209 NOTES 241 INDEX 293 ...

"[An] imaginative, provocative, and well-researched book."---Edward S. Shapiro, Congress Monthly

Autorentext

Eric L. Goldstein

Klappentext

What has it meant to be Jewish in a nation preoccupied with the categories of black and white? The Price of Whiteness documents the uneasy place Jews have held in America's racial culture since the late nineteenth century. The book traces Jews' often tumultuous encounter with race from the 1870s through World War II, when they became vested as part of America's white mainstream and abandoned the practice of describing themselves in racial terms. American Jewish history is often told as a story of quick and successful adaptation, but Goldstein demonstrates how the process of identifying as white Americans was an ambivalent one, filled with hard choices and conflicting emotions for Jewish immigrants and their children. Jews enjoyed a much greater level of social inclusion than African Americans, but their membership in white America was frequently made contingent on their conformity to prevailing racial mores and on the eradication of their perceived racial distinctiveness. While Jews consistently sought acceptance as whites, their tendency to express their own group bonds through the language of "race" led to deep misgivings about what was required of them. Today, despite the great success Jews enjoy in the United States, they still struggle with the constraints of America's black-white dichotomy. The Price of Whiteness concludes that while Jews' status as white has opened many doors for them, it has also placed limits on their ability to assert themselves as a group apart.

Zusammenfassung
Documents the uneasy place Jews have held in America's racial culture since the late nineteenth century. This book traces Jews' often tumultuous encounter with race from the 1870s through World War II, when they became vested as part of America's white mainstream and abandoned the practice of describing themselves in racial terms.

Inhalt
LIST OF FIGURES ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi INTRODUCTION 1 PART I: THE JEWISH "RACE" IN AMERICA, 1875-1895 CHAPTER 1: "Different Blood Flows in Our Veins": Race and Jewish Self-Definition in Late-Nineteenth-Century America 11 PART II: JEWS IN BLACK AND WHITE, 1896-1918 CHAPTER 2: The Unstable Other: Locating Jews in Progressive Era American Racial Discourse 35 CHAPTER 3: "Now Is the Time to Show Your True Colors": The Jewish Approach to African Americans 51 CHAPTER 4: "What Are We?":Jewishness between Race and Religion 86 PART III: CONFRONTING JEWISH DIFFERENCE, 1919-1935 CHAPTER 5: Race and the "Jewish Problem" in Interwar America 119 CHAPTER 6: "A White Race of Another Kind"? 138 CHAPTER 7: Wrestling with Racial Jewishness 165 PART IV: FROM OLD CHALLENGES TO NEW, 1936-1950 CHAPTER 8: World War II and the Transformation of Jewish Racial Identity 189 EPILOGUE: Jews, Whiteness, and "Tribalism" in Multicultural America 209 NOTES 241 INDEX 293