Presented by Britt Tevis, J.D./Ph.D.
American Jewish Historian; Phyllis Backer Assistant Professor in Jewish Studies, Department of History, Syracuse University

Antisemitism in the United States, though a pressing subject in contemporary politics, is poorly understood. Scholars and public intellectuals often cast antisemitism simplistically, identifying it as a conspiracy theory or as an individual defect. Yet exploring incidents of anti-Jewish bigotry, violence, and discrimination in U.S. history reveals a far more complex reality. What binds anti-Jewish episodes and movements in the United States is the desire to undermine and even eliminate Jews’ civil and political rights. Historically, Christian nationalism, racial science, and conspiratorial thinking constitute the three forces that have inspired that objective.

Using archival sources spanning from 1654 through the present, Dr. Tevis will illuminate an array of forgotten examples of antisemitism in the United States to re