Jews shifted from racial to religious claims to Whiteness after World War I.

Evidence

The Anti-Defamation League, established in 1913 after the lynching of Leo Frank, opposed racialized images of Jews in the media and the theater. Before World War I, Jews claimed Whiteness based on assertions that Semites are members of the Aryan race. After World War I, Jews focused on religious commonalities between Jews and Christians in furtherance of a Judeo-Christian national identity. American Jews also defended Al Smith, a Catholic, as a means of combating Protestant hegemony in American political life and because Smith had cultivated Jewish support when he was governor of New York. Over 72 percent of Jewish voters cast their ballots for Smith in 1928. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 427 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: British caricature of Jews shifted from oriental to assimilated in a century; Catholics and Jews were historically racialized as non-White through their religious beliefs.; Security in Whiteness enabled Jews to later support Black civil rights (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• American Jews strategically shifted their claims to Whiteness before and after World War I #corroborates (0.97) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 427