Antisemitism in The United States

Antisemitism In The United States

Jewish Americans have flourished since colonial times in what became the United States, which before the Second World War had a general history of racism directed to non-Christian, non-northwest European groups. Antisemitism in the United States has however lacked the extent and severity of its counterpart in Europe. While today the United States has the second-largest Jewish community in the world, before the late 19th and early 20th century they were a much smaller minority. Moreover, its occurrence has been on a generally decreasing trend in the last century consistent with a general reduction of sanctioned racism in the United States, especially since World War II and the Civil Rights Movement.

As racism in general persists, so does antisemitism, although institutional anti-semitism, common before the 1960s, has essentially disappeared. In the United States, most Jewish community relations agencies draw a distinction between antisemitism which is measured in terms of attitudes and behaviors and the security and status of American Jews which is measured by specific incidents.