THEY CAME FOR GOOD: A HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES {PARTS 1 AND 2} (TV)
Summary
A two-part documentary that tells the story of Jewish settlement and life in America from the 1600s through the 1880s, using interviews with historians, and excerpts from letters and historical documents read by actors. Part one, "Present at Creation: The Colonial and Early National Periods," begins with the arrival of Sephardic Jews from Brazil in Nieuw Amsterdam in 1654. Hasia Diner explains the conditions that led to Governor Peter Stuyvesant's unsuccessful attempt to bar Jewish settlement in the colony, and the program covers the efforts of Jewish Nieuw Amsterdam/New York City settlers Asser Levy and Louis Moses Gomez to gain rights for Jews, including the right to own land.
The program discusses the establishment of Jewish congregations in New York; historian Jane Gerber talks about shared worship by Sephardic (Spanish) and Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews in synagogues and the tensions caused by conflicts between the traditions. Historian Mary Beth Norton talks about the Jewish woman's role in maintaining religious discipline; the program highlights the story of Abigail Franks, who grieved upon her daughter's marriage to a non-Jew. Jewish settlements elsewhere in the Colonies, particularly in Newport, Rhode Island, are covered next. Historians Eli Faber and Diner talk about the tension between the Jewish and the secular expressed in the Newport Synagogue's architecture. The program contrasts the secularity of Jewish Colonial portraiture and more outward expressions of Judaism.
The program tells the story of Aaron Lopez, who fled Portuguese persecution, settled in Newport, and became a successful merchant -- and the largest Jewish slaver in the world. The program then discusses the relevance of the Declaration of Independence to Jews, and their participation in the War for Independence, highlighting the stories of Jewish revolutionaries Frances Salvador, Mordechai Sheftal and Haym Solomon. Historians Harry Feingold and Norton discuss the unparalleled religious freedom that was achieved with the Bill of Rights; excerpts from a letter from George Washington to the Newport congregation are read. The program then discusses prominent nineteenth-century American Jews, including Mordechai Manuel Noah, instrumental in the release of the Jews arrested in the "Damascus Incident"; Rebecca Gratz, a Philadelphia socialite who founded the first women-taught Hebrew schools; and Uriah Phillips Levy, a Jewish Naval Commodore who overcame the prejudices that once held back his career.
The first episode concludes with a brief analysis of the contrast between the "harmony of loyalties" that enabled Jews to flourish in America and the poor economic and social conditions that led to persecution of Jews in Europe, resulting in the surge in the numbers of Jews in America from 1840 to 1890.
Part two, "Taking Root, 1820-1880: The German and Central European Jews," begins with a brief overview of the settlement of Jews in America described in detail in part one and asks whether the benevolence of American society towards Jews would enable a greater identification with the Jewish culture, or result in assimilation. The program describes the life and job of the peddler, a career used by many Eastern European Jewish immigrants to "start up the economic ladder," and the relationship between these early peddlers and the rise of department stores, including Macy's, Abraham and Straus, Sears and Filenes. The program next covers the wave of Catholic immigration from Ireland and Germany in the mid-nineteenth century, the resultant anti-foreigner sentiments that rose among the native-born populace, and how Jews were spared much of the anger due to their image as "good immigrants."
The program then discusses the effects of the 1849 gold rush on the dispersal of the Jewish population in the United States and the creation of new Jewish wealth, including that of jeans manufacturer Levi Straus, who became a leader in San Francisco's Jewish community. The program visits Las Vegas, New Mexico, which was once the largest Jewish community in the West, but now has one Jewish resident. The program tells the story of two men, Isaac Leeser and Isaac Mayer Wise, whose differences in beliefs led to the establishment of the Conservative and Reformed branches of Judaism, and Wise's foundation of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Hebrew Union College. Historian Deborah Dash Moore talks about the conditions in America that led to changes in religious and secular practices for Jews, and the formation of B'nai Brith and other philanthropic and social organizations.
The program then discusses the issue of Jewish involvement in slavery and abolitionist movements, including the positions of Jewish religious leaders in the argument over slavery; the participation of Jews in the military on both sides of the Civil War; and highlights from the story of Judah P. Benjamin, a slave owner and prominent Confederate statesman who served as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State in Jefferson Davis's Confederate Cabinet. The program talks about the Jewish-German immigrants who made up a large portion of the Jewry in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, and highlights the rise of Joseph Seligman, a wealthy banker who belonged to "Our Crowd," the wealthy Jewish society in New York that included the Guggenheim and Loeb families. The program describes the segregation of social society, and the Americanization of German-Jewish children.
The program winds down with the pogroms that began in Russia in 1881 and the subsequent flood of Eastern European Jews into the United States in the late nineteenth century, and ends with the story of the poet Emma Lazarus, who, inspired by the plight of those Jews, re-identified herself as a Jew and wrote the poem inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty. This program is closed-captioned.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: April 1, 2001 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:55:29
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:74746
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Jews in the United States - History
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 2001
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Kris Liem … Co-Producer, Production (Misc.), Editor
- Joyce Miller … Associate Producer, Researcher
- Lora Anolick … Production (Misc.), Program Coordinator, Researcher
- Sheila Kogan … Production (Misc.), Production Associate
- Mark Levin … Production (Misc.), Production Associate, Researcher
- Rebekah Rutkoff … Production (Misc.), Production Associate, Researcher
- Matthew Testa … Associate Producer, Researcher
- Amram Nowak … Director
- Jerry Pantzer … Direction (Misc.), Director of Photography
- Manya Starr … Writer
- Ross Levinson … Music by, Conductor
- Mason Adams … Narrator
- Robert Blumenfeld … Cast, Isaac Leeser
- Federico Bonadeo … Cast, Lamplighter
- Robert Burney … Cast, Peter Stuyvesant
- Rite Gam … Cast, Rebecca Gratz
- Gordon Grinberg … Cast, Theodore Wiener
- Adam Heller … Cast, The Refugee Jew
- Avi Hoffman … Cast, The Peddler
- Sharon Laufer … Cast, Marrano Woman
- Devora Millman … Cast, Abigail Franks
- Richard Poe … Cast, Uriah Levy, Voice
- Moshe Rudin … Cast, August Bondi
- Paul Sparer … Cast, Isaac Mayer Wise
- Stuart Steinberg … Cast, Jonas Philips
- Bruce Winant … Cast, Mordechai Noah, Voice
- William Allyn … Voice
- Theodore Bikel … Voice
- Marvin Einhorn … Voice
- William Fowler … Voice
- David Glass … Voice
- Anne Meara … Voice
- Aura Petrides … Voice
- Jerry Stiller … Voice
- Marty Vidnovic … Voice
- Judah P. Benjamin
- Jefferson Davis
- Hasia Diner
- Eli Faber
- Harry Feingold
- Abigail Franks
- Jane Gerber
- Louis Moses Gomez
- Rebecca Gratz
- Emma Lazarus
- Isaac Leeser
- Asser Levy
- Uriah Phillips Levy
- Aaron Lopez
- Deborah Dash Moore
- Mordechai Manuel Noah
- Mary Beth Norton
- Frances Salvador
- Joseph Seligman
- Mordechai Sheftal
- Haym Salomon
- Levi Straus
- Peter Stuyvesant
- George Washington
- Isaac Mayer Wise