Presenter: Jacob Valleau
Mentors: William Toll, History; Daniel Tichenor, Political Science
Oral Presentation
Major: Political Science
Oregon Jews flourished economically and politically despite living in a state with many pro-hegemony laws, including severe measures such as a constitutional amendment barring blacks from entering the state. The purpose of this thesis is to answer the following questions using theories of historical regionalism coupled with demographic data, laws, and primary writings of the founders of Oregon from the mid-19th century through 1930. Why is there a general lack of anti-Semitism in a society that was (and some have argued, still is) determined to be racially hegemonic? Jews from Germany, a group favored by the immigration board of Oregon, created a lasting impact both economically and socially in Oregon. As Eastern European and Sephardic communities moved to Oregon and developed their own synagogues, larger systems of social control such as the various benevolent societies and the B’nai B’rith consolidated the ethnic variation of Oregon Jews, succeeding at reducing the ability for divisive groups like the Ku Klux Klan to blame Jews for any strife. The economic successes of the Oregonian Jewish merchant class made the Jewish ethnicity pronounced in the public eye. The integration of Jews into the majority ruling class in the West helps explain the strength of the Oregon Jewish ethnic group both civically and economically. This research helps answer the question: what defines “otherness” in the state of Oregon?