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Unheard Voices and Unseen Fights: Jews, Segregation, and Higher Education in the South, 1910–1964

Soltz, Wendy Fergusson

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History.
Jewish involvement in civil rights for African Americans has often been shrouded in myth. Typical tropes declare that Jews built an alliance with African Americans based on a sense of common oppression but that Southern Jews stayed quiet concerning civil rights issues fearing antisemitic repercussion. This dissertation uses archival research and builds on past scholarly work to overturn these tropes and reveal the complex situation of Jews in the South who promoted higher education for African Americans. Jews interested in civil rights between 1910 and 1965 did not formally build an alliance with African Americans, and those who lived in the South were not quiet; however, they operated in different and unorganized ways compared to their coreligionists in the North. Southern college campuses provided a unique site for Jews to take part in the struggle for enabling African Americans to pursue higher education. By its very nature, the college campus fostered a liberal atmosphere but was surrounded by a landscape riddled with antisemitic, antiforeigner, and anti-Communist sentiments. Jews who chose to take part in this struggle in the South simultaneously questioned their own identity as both nonwhite and nonblack and also American (insider) and foreigner (outsider). This constant negotiation hindered their ability to make inroads, thus Jewish contributions in the South were neither obviously nor immediately successful.
Robin Judd (Advisor)
Steven Conn (Committee Member)
Matthew Goldish (Committee Member)
Isaac Weiner (Committee Member)
297 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Soltz, W. F. (2016). Unheard Voices and Unseen Fights: Jews, Segregation, and Higher Education in the South, 1910–1964 [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469136499

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Soltz, Wendy. Unheard Voices and Unseen Fights: Jews, Segregation, and Higher Education in the South, 1910–1964 . 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469136499.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Soltz, Wendy. "Unheard Voices and Unseen Fights: Jews, Segregation, and Higher Education in the South, 1910–1964 ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1469136499

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)