In the summer of 1964, college students from the northern United States bused down to Mississippi to help Black activists with a voter registration drive known as "Freedom Summer." The drive was meant to combat entrenched voter suppression practices, a hallmark of Jim Crow segregation found throughout the American south. On June 21, 1964, young volunteers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner arrived in Mississippi. Chaney, who was Black, and Andrew and Michael, who were Jewish, encountered law enforcement and pulled over, allegedly for speeding. Their arrest and later release from the jail was the last time they were seen alive. While many Jewish Americans were already active allies in the Civil Rights Movement, many saw the murders as a clear directive to continue to fight for social justice, and threw their support and activism behind ending voter suppression in the South. Featuring Andrew Sperling and Britt Tevis, and hosted by AJHS Executive Director Gemma R. Birnbaum.

Episode Image: American Jewish Congress member holding sign at Montgomery March, 1965. Records of the American Jewish Congress I-77

All We Have Standing Between Us is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Knapp Family Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Atran Foundation, and Anonymous.

Following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, Americans struggled against the devastating realities of the Great Depression. Hoping to alleviate poverty, unemployment, and desperation, Jews embraced Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his promise of a "New Deal." The advent of World War II brought the Depression to an end, but sparked global fascism and antisemitism at an unprecedented scale. Over 550,000 Jews joined the Armed Forces in an effort to defeat Nazism abroad and earn the respect of their fellow Americans at home. In the aftermath of the war, dormant tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union resurfaced. Featuring Deborah Dash Moore and Tony Michels, and hosted by AJHS Executive Director Gemma R. Birnbaum.

Episode Image: "A Reminder to the Youth of America on Flag Day!" From the Jewish War Veterans, American Jewish Historical Society, I-52.

All We Have Standing Between Us is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Knapp Family Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Atran Foundation, and Anonymous.

Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, approximately two million Jews fled Eastern Europe for the United States. After entering through Ellis Island, many made their new homes in the tenement buildings of New York's Lower East Side, where they contended with dire living conditions, strenuous factory jobs, and linguistic and cultural challenges. Several Jewish philanthropists, including the poet Emma Lazarus, dedicated their resources to help the newcomers acclimate to American society. As wealth inequality and antisemitism soared, Jews embraced the labor movement to improve their lives as American citizens. Featuring Esther Schor and Daniel Soyer, and hosted by AJHS Executive Director Gemma R. Birnbaum.

Episode Image: Jewish women promote the purchase of Liberty Bonds during World War I, from the National Jewish Welfare Board Records at the American Jewish Historical Society, I-337.

All We Have Standing Between Us is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Knapp Family Foundation. Additional funding provided by the Leon Levy Foundation, the Achelis and Bodman Foundation, the Atran Foundation, and Anonymous.