Jewish American History Time Map

Below you will find dates and descriptions of events in history that contribute to understanding what it has meant to be a Jew in America since the end of the Civil War. For more information about a particular event, usually an accompanying picture, click on the "More Info" tags in the time map. To see an overview of this Jewish American History Time Map, click here. For a listing of the sources used to create this exhibit, click here.

1870	189 congregations and 152 synagogue buildings reported by the religious census
1873	Isaac Mayer Wise founded the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Wise wanted Judaism to Americanize and become more mainstream. More Info
1875	Hebrew Union College founded by Wise More Info
1877	Hilton-Seligman affair: Joseph Seligman, the most prominent Jew in America and head of J. & W. Seligman & Co., denied lodging at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga, the summer vacation destination of the rich. More Info
1878	Union of American Hebrew Congregations survey reports 270 congregations and 230,000 Jews in the United States
1881	Mass immigration of Eastern European Jews begins, started largely by Russian pogroms and public decrees that anti-Jewish acts were “a natural, spontaneous response to putative Jewish revolutionary activity and economic exploitation.”
1882	The first Americanization classes for Jewish immigrants
1884	Temple Emanu-El, built in 1869, and the reason for the statement “Why should not . . . gorgeous temples and grand edifices devoted to charities tell of the prosperity and gratitude of the Jew?” discusses having services on Sunday. More Info
1885	“Pittsburgh Platform” adopted by a group of Rabbis wanting to make Judaism a “progressive religion.” They proclaimed, We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community.” This is the beginning of the divide among the Reformers and Conservatives. Reform Jews start moving more and more towards a “secular” version of Judaism.
1887	Jewish Theological Seminary, or the Conservative movement, founded in response to the ultra-reform ideas of founders of Hebrew Union College and the Reform movement More Info
1890	533 congregations and 301 synagogue buildings reported by the religious census
1892	Ellis Island opened as the national immigration center. More Info
1892-1921	Through the Open Door Comes a Flood: The Face of New Americans More Info
1896	Adolf Simon Ochs becomes publisher of The New York Times. In the era of yellow journalism, Ochs wanted a paper that was “clean, dignified, and trustworthy.” Thus, his slogan became “ All the News That’s Fit to Print.” More Info
1901	The New Colossus, by Emma Lazarus, added to the base of the Statue of Liberty. More Info
1903	Jacob Adler and his Yiddish Drama appear at the American Theater More Info
1905	Jews “assaulted and mocked” on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. More Info
1906	1,769 congregations and 821 synagogue buildings reported by the religious census
1911	Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire claims the lives of 141, many of whom were Jewish immigrant women. More Info
1915	Anti-Semitic conviction, stabbing, murder, and lynching of the innocent Leo Frank, a twenty-nine-year-old manager of a small Atlanta pencil factory. More Info
1870-1925	Street life of the peasant More Info
1920	More than 2 million Yiddish-speaking Jews immigrated to the United States since 1881
1921	The Johnson Act is passed placing the first limits on immigration. Termed the national-origins quota system, immigrants from countries were limited to 3% of each foreign-born nationality in the 1910 census. This was meant to favor Northern Europeans at the expense of Southern and Western Europeans.
1922	Klu Klux Klan adds Jews and Catholics to its hate list.
1922	Ford posts anti-Semitic signs in the parking lots and distributes anti-Semitic literature to his workers
1922	Harvard University president, A. Lawrence Lowell, proposes a quota for the number of Jews admitted to the University.
1922	Stephen S. Wise founds the Jewish Institute of Religion as a counter organization of Hebrew Union College, intending to provide a more “national orientation.”
1924	The Johnson-Reed act is passed with the intention of “preserving America’s ‘racial’ composition.” Quotas were based on the ethnic make-up of the United States. This is even more discriminatory than the 1921 provisions.
1926	3,118 congregations, 1,782 synagogue buildings, and 4,100,100 Jewish citizens reported by the religious census
1938	About Kristallnacht, German Ambassador Hans Dieckhoff remarked, “Years of painstaking effort to build anti-Semitic opinion in America had been destroyed in a single night.”
1940	4,872,500 Jews living in the United States
1948	The Jewish state is declared, and the Jews of America begin to unite as a cohesive community.
1949	Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of Religion merge. Jews begin to reconcile their differences and are working together again.
1956	American Jewish Yearbook releases statistics that show great increase in synagogue attendance.
1960	5,449,250 Jews living in the United States
1963	Synagogue expansion peaks
1967	Israeli six-day war results in a “unexpected and overwhelming reaction among American Jews: an unparalleled outpouring of money, and a deepened sense of Jewish identity and of participation in a common Jewish fate.”
1967	Christian-Jewish relations are damaged when the Jewish community criticizes lack of Christian support for Israeli causes.
1968	New York teachers’ strike of unionized teachers, who were mostly Jewish, results in tension with the blacks that wanted community control.
1970	Charles Geller, high school student, recalls other students throwing pennies down in the hallway, playing on common stereotypes of the day. This is only one example of everyday anti-Semitism.
1971	The Synagogue Council of America finally is able to agree on an issue. In a statement that represented all three major branches of American Judaism, the council endorses public support for private religious schools. This is an interesting move for the traditionally Liberal Jewish movements.
1973	The Jewish Catalog is published, in the style of The Whole Earth Catalog, as a do-it-yourself Judaism kit. More Info
1976	Jimmy Carter, a born-again Christian, is elected. This once again challenges the Christian-Jewish relationship. More Info
1978	A presidential commission on the Holocaust recommends a permanent national Holocaust memorial program. More Info
1980	5,710,445 Jews living in the United States
1980	Ronald Reagan brings the issues of religion back into the public spotlight. More Info
1984	During an interview, presidential nominee Jesse Jackson refers to Jews as “Hymies” and New York City as “Hymietown.” More Info
1984	15,000 Holocaust survivors gather in Washington, D.C.
1987	Jonathan Jay Pollard sentenced to life imprisonment for spying for Israel. More Info
1990	Representative of the acceptance Jewish culture, illustrated children’s books with Jewish themes become easily available for purchase More Info
1996	90 Anti-Semitic incidents reported on college campuses. One incident, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, involved a doctored photo of a Jewish Student Body President with horns and a pitchfork.
1999	6,061,000 Jews living in the United States
2000	Violence in Israel gives cause for strengthened Jewish identity.