From scapegoating during the Revolutionary War to last week’s arson attack on a Mississippi synagogue, Jews have fought for their place in American life, and the American story has never been free of antisemitism. But from the country’s earliest years, Jews in the United States could answer public insinuations in newspapers, using the civic vocabulary of their time, as participants in the public square. The historical record preserves both early prejudice and early practices of public belonging and provides a template for what Jews can anticipate in the face of contemporary attacks. Belonging has never been guaranteed; it has been defended.
