Jews Across the Americas, 1492-present

Learning and Teaching Jewish American History

Jews Across the Americas, 1492-present

Thematic Pairings

One way to teach the sourcebook is to assign 3-4 chapters per day that are thematically paired. Below are some possible thematic pairings. You may want to choose these so that you repeat themes across different eras, your own interests and expertise, or so that they resonate with the key takeaways covered in the introduction to each Part of the book. Choose how many themes you want per era depending on how many days a week your class meets and how much time you want to allot to that era.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION [takeaways]

Part 1: EARLY COLONIAL ERA (1492-1762) [takeaways]

  • Origins: Chapters 1, 6, 32
  • Inquisitional Memories: Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11
  • Travel Narratives: Chapters 6, 10, 16
  • Love and Belonging: Chapters 2, 8, 14,
  • Synagogues & Ritual Life: Chapters 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 18, 19, 20
  • Life Cycles: Chapters 12, 14, 19
  • Gender & Sexuality: Chapters 2, 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19
  • Slavery, Race, & Civil Rights: Chapters 6, 8, 9, 10, 17
  • Material Culture: Chapters 5, 12, 15, 20
  • Jews of Color & Multiracial Jews: 6
  • Spanish & Portuguese Colonies: Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11
  • Dutch & British Colonies: Chapters 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20
  • Caribbean: 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 18, 20

Part 2: AGE OF REVOLUTIONS & EMANCIPATION (1763-1835) [takeaways]

  • Reading Race: 21, 23, 24, 32, 333, 35, 37, 39, 40 [can pair with Imade Analysis: Jews & Race]
  • Letter Writing & Women’s Changing Roles: 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 38,
  • Portraiture & Painting: 21, 27, 34, 39, 40 [can pair with Analyzing Paintings]
  • Emancipation and Civil Rights: 17, 33, 40, 42, 43
  • Synagogues & Ritual Life: 22, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 33, 36, 38, 41
  • Gender & Sexuality: 21, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 38,
  • Slavery: 21, 24, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39
  • Material Culture: 21, 22, 25, 27, 29, 34, 37, 39, 40
  • Jews of Color & Multiracial Jews: 24, 32, 33, 39

ERA OF MASS MIGRATIONS & NATIONALISMS (1836-1912) [takeaways]

  • Migration and Community: 37, 45, 46, 48, 55, 56, 57, 58, 62, 64, 66, 68
  • Synagogues & Ritual Life: 41, 44, 48, 49, 50, 52, 54, 57, 58, 49, 61,
  • Portraits & Early Photography: 43, 45, 47, 56, 60 [can pair with Analyzing Images: Photographs]
  • Urban Lives: 59, 60, 61, 64, 66, 69
  • New Communities: 55, 56, 62, 64, 65, 67, 68
  • Gender & Sexuality: 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 57, 59, 62, 63, 67, 68
  • Material Culture: 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 54, 56, 59, 60, 64
  • Jews of Color & Multiracial Jews: 45, 47
  • Race, Racism & Antisemitism: 43, 47, 51, 52, 56, 60, 62, 65
  • Education: 50, 57, 63, 67
  • US Civil War: 51, 52
  • Jewish Newspapers: 57 [pair with students doing their own research with the Historical Jewish Press Collection]

THE WORLD AT WAR (1913-1945) [takeaways]

  • Historical Trauma: 69, 71, 72, 73, 78, 80, 82, 84, 85, 90
  • Jewish Languages 70, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 87
  • Race and Belonging: 73, 75, 76, 80, 82, 84, 86
  • Gender & Sexuality: 69, 70, 74, 75, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89
  • Synagogues & Ritual Life: 69, 71, 76, 79, 91
  • Jews of Color & Multiracial Jews: 75, 76
  • Material Culture: 71, 75, 78, 84, 88, 90, 91
  • World Wars: 72, 78, 83, 84, 89, 90
  • Antisemitism & Xenophobia: 73, 78, 83, 84, 90

JEWS IN THE POSTWAR AMERICAS (1946-present) [takeaways]

  • Holocaust & Its Aftermath: 84, 89, 90, 91, 95, 106, 107
  • Refuge? 92, 95, 97, 98, 101, 102, 106, 107, 109, 111
  • Renewal: 99, 101, 102, 104, 105, 108, 112
  • Intersectionality & Sharing Power: 96, 104, 108, 113
  • Jews of Color & Multiracial Jews: 98, 101, 105, 113
  • Material Culture: 92, 94, 98, 99, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 113
  • Gender & Sexuality: 99, 104, 108, 112, 113
  • Synagogues & Ritual Life: 93, 94, 98, 99, 102, 105, 108
  • Antisemitism & Racism: 95, 96, 98, 100, 103, 106, 109, 111
  • Portraiture: 99, 104, 113
  • Israel: 95, 103, 106, 109
  • Military Dictatorships: 95, 97, 100, 106, 109

TRANSHISTORICAL PAIRINGS