Fight against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights

3. The Resurgence of Southern Anti-Semitism

THE RESURGENCE OF SOUTHERN ANTI-SEMITISM By the early19505, Jews appeared to havecarved acomfortable niche in southern society. The years immediatelyafter the Second World War witnessed a resurgence among American Jews. After the troubled interwar era, when institutional anti-Semitism had spread throughout the United States, Jews reestablished their patriotic credentials through loyal service on both the battlefieldand the home front. Southern Jewsshared in this success. Predominantly city dwellers, they continued to constitute only a fraction of the total population. According to the census, of the 40 million people who resided in the region, only 265,000 were Jewish. Particularly through their role in the retail trade, Jews were nonetheless able to exert an influence that was disproportionate to their numbers. As the sociologist Alfred Hero observed , "Jews throughout the South have been on the average much better off, better educated, more concentrated in elevated society and occupational groups . . . than Gentiles."1 This process of acculturation had, however, only been achieved through considerable compromise. Southern Jews remained profoundly concerned about their personal security. Their presence was tolerated, even welcomed, by white southerners, but only so long as they publicly conformed to the cultural mores of the region. Southern Jews became social chameleons, changing their colors so as to blend into the background. Evidence of this need to belong was everywhere. Traditional religious observancewasoften as low as intermarriage was high. A despairing editorial in the Southern Jewish Weekly observed how Jewish organizations throughout the South sponsored social events without any attempt to serve kosher food. With "all the moral force at our command," the paper urged Jews throughout the region to observe dietary laws with greater diligence. The decline of religious orthodoxy was indeed widespread. "One cannot saythere is a distinct Jewish culture in New Orleans," Rabbi Julian Feibelman of the city's Temple Sinai observed: 3 44 FIGHT AGAINST FEAR TABLE 1: THESOUTHERN JEWISH POPULATION IN 1954 State Jewish Population Alabama 8,584 Arkansas 2,354 Florida 76,940 Georgia 17,530 Kentucky 10,157 Louisiana 13,949 Mississippi 2,457 North Carolina 4,632 South Carolina 3,999 Tennessee 14,155 Texas 51,143 Virginia 22,863* Total 228,763 Source: AmericanJewish Yearbook, vols. 55 and 56, ed. by Morris Fine (New York and Philadelphia:American Jewish Committee and Jewish Publication Society, 1954 and 1955). *Figures for Virginia include estimates for several communities made before 1954. "There is rather a distinct New Orleans culture of which the Jewishcommunity ispart."2 Jews understood above all that the continued goodwill of white Gentiles could only be guaranteed through their uncritical acceptanceof the southern caste system. Although most southern Jews sympathized with the incipient civil rights movement, political realities compelled their silence. When the northern journalist John Gunther attended a social function inNatchez, Mississippi , shortly after the Second World War,he made the mistake of expressing sympathyfor the plight of African Americans. In hiswords, "Severalleading citizens of the town almost broke blood vesselsto exclaimthat I must be a 'Communist' or 'be influenced by Jews' to hold such views." Faced with this pervasive sense of suspicion, southern Jews were forced to watch their every word and action. According to an opinion poll conducted in 1959, southern Jews were considerably more supportive of civil rights initiatives than were white Gentiles. So successfully, however, had Jews concealed their true convictions that only 15 percent of Gentiles believed them to be in favor of integration; 67percent confessed not to know how Jews felt.3 Even in cities with a relativelyprogressive reputation, such as Dallas and RESURGENCE OF SOUTHERN ANTI-SEMITISM 45 Little Rock, Jews carefully avoided controversy.The same wastrue in Atlanta, arguably the most cosmopolitan city in the South. According to sociologist Solomon Sutker, local Jews were "conspicuous by their lack of active political participation."4 For a time it seemed that southern Jews had succeeded in deflecting accusations of their disloyalty. Arch segregationist politicians such asRichardRussell and Herman Talmadge were sufficiently confident of Jewish support that they championed the fledgling republic of Israel.5 Yet no matter how hard southern Jews strove to secure astate of rapprochement with the white Gentile majority, their political status wasstill inherently unstable. Jews hoped that so long asthey appeared to support the status quo, their securitywould not be at risk. This tactic contained a fundamental paradox . In their verysupport of segregation,Jewswere upholding the samecaste system that led to their own marginalization. In so doing they...