Between 1920 and 2007, approximately one hundred articles and essays, twenty monographs, and six anthologies have been published on the intriguing relationship between Black and Jewish Americans. This body of scholarship is dense, wide-reaching, analytically sound, and is often times a reflection of changes in American history and society. This essay critically surveys the significant scholarship published on the relationships between African Americans and Jewish Americans during the twentieth century. This comprehensive historiography serves as a tool for exploring how various historical interactions between Blacks and Jews were influenced by the rules, conventions, and protocols of a broader American culture. By critically studying the intersection between race, class, economics, politics, education, and identity formation, I am better able to assess historical interactions between African Americans and Jewish Americans. Looking at the associations between these two historically marginalized groups we can better understand the implications of categories such as ethnicity on intercultural coalition building and how we can overcome barriers that have strained and divided Black-Jewish relations.
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