In the uneasily shared history of Jews and blacks in America, the
struggle for civil rights in the South may be the least understood
episode. "Fight against Fear" is the first book to focus on Jews
and African Americans in that remarkable place and time. Mindful of
both communities' precarious and contradictory standings in the
South, Clive Webb tells a complex story of resistance and
complicity, conviction and apathy.
Webb begins by ranging over the experiences of southern Jews up
to the eve of the civil rights movement--from antebellum
slaveowners to refugees who fled Hitler's Europe only to arrive in
the Jim Crow South. He then shows how the historical burden of
ambivalence between Jews and blacks weighed on such issues as
school desegregation, the white massive resistance movement, and
business boycotts and sit-ins.
As many Jews grappled as never before with the ways they had
become--and yet never could become--southerners, their empathy with
African Americans translated into scattered, individual actions
rather than any large-scale, organized alliance between the two
groups. The reasons for this are clear, Webb says, once we get past
the notion that the choices of the much larger, less conservative,
and urban-centered Jewish populations of the North define those of
all American Jews. To understand Jews in the South we must look at
their particular circumstances: their small numbers and wide
distribution, denominational rifts, and well-founded anxiety over
defying racial and class customs set by the region's white
Protestant majority.
For better or worse, we continue to define the history of Jews
and blacks in America by its flash points. By setting aside
emotions and shallow perceptions, "Fight against Fear" takes a
substantial step toward giving these two communities the more open
and evenhanded consideration their shared experiences demand.
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