About Jewish-American Heritage Month

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Jewish Americans have been part of the American experience almost since the beginning. The first arrived from Holland in the early 1600s. Up through the revolution, the majority were of Sephardic (Arab) descent. Several fought in the Revolutionary War and many were instrumental in securing financing for the colonies.

In the 1800s, as revolution swept through Europe, the first major wave of Ashkenazi (European) Jews began arriving in the United States. By the 1880s, over 200,000 had arrived. Wars, famine, growing racism against Jews and other ethnic groups, the promise of work via the industrial revolution, and the ability to live freely, increased the number of Jews from both Eastern Europe and the Middle East. By 1910, 50% of those arriving in the United States were of the Jewish faith. By 1921, new US immigration laws culled the flow of all immigrant groups, despite the increasing dangers in Europe.

In the beginning, Jewish immigrants settled in North Carolina. With the Industrial Revolution and the promise of jobs, New England became the preferred location with New York, Philadelphia and Boston boasting the largest populations.

Jewish Americans have been instrumental in the civil rights movement, establishing the entertainment industry and contributing to higher education, the arts, law and medicine. It was Jewish Americans whom first protested the downgrading of US public schools in New York in the 1920s. As a group, Jewish Americans continued to be more active in politics and causes than any other single demographic. Today, nearly 6 million persons identifying with the Jewish faith live in the United States, one third of the global Jewish population. The United States boasts the second largest population of those of the Jewish in the world. The state of Israel has slightly more.

This is a month to appreciate the history and contributions of Jewish Americans in building and creating the United States as we know it today.