Degree Year
2024
Document Type
Thesis - Oberlin Community Only
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
History
Advisor(s)
Laura Herron
Ellen Wurtzel
Committee Member(s)
Shari Rabin
Matthew Bahar
Abstract
Beginning in Charleston in 1695, close-knit Jewish communities began to develop in Southern American port cities, and soon began to achieve full integration into the society as a whole. With this new level of integration and acculturation began a discussion of not only what exactly these communities achieved in a new land, but also how they created a brand new identity at the intersection of their Judaism and their Americanism. Other studies have discussed these achievements in a vacuum, seemingly highlighting the exclusively Jewish outlook of this communal development, with little consideration given to the regional circumstances that allowed Jewish settlers to effectively integrate into Southern society. In this thesis, I will analyze these methods of integration and acculturation, including Jewish participation in the American Revolution and the trade-based economies of the Southern colonies, while also describing the complex figures that emerged within the community. In particular, discussion of these figures and their complexities is generally lacking in the historical narrative of Jewish growth in the American South, with the narrative focusing especially on Jewish successes in the colonies. Ultimately, my thesis aims to answer the following question: how do we measure the social mobility and success of Jews in the colonial American south using their assimilation into colonial life as a metric?
Repository Citation
Gershon, Zach, "Understanding the Acculturation of Jewish Communities in the Early American Southeast" (2024). Honors Papers. 900.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/900
