Antisemitism in Interwar America In 1915, a Jewish businessman, Leo Frank was falsely accused of killing a worker, Mary Phlegem, in the pencil factory he managed. When the Georgia governor reduced Frank’s death sentence to life imprisonment due to lack of evidence, a mob lynched him. He was given a posthumous pardon decades later when the evidence pointed to a janitor at the factory. Leo Frank’s tragedy caused “a ripple effect of fear among Jewish immigrants and Jewish Americans” ( “Anti-semitism in America” ). The lynching of Leo Frank was the beginning of two long decades of anti-semitism in interwar America. Anti-semitism is defined as the prejudice, hostility, or discrimination towards Jewish people, and it was particularly common during the 1920’s and 1930’s, when jealously towards Jews were common, making it particularly easy for individuals and organizations to blame Jews for America's problems. One of the first anti-semitic organizations in the 20th century was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Standing for “native, white, Protestant superiority” ( “Anti-semitism in the United” ), the Ku Klux Klan discriminated against those who did not fit their ideal, and anyone who was different, including blacks, the Chinese, …show more content…
Many Jews felt its effect in their daily life. Jews faced many physical attacks, but also in the media- in television, movies, drama, etc (Freeman). "Newspapers and magazines commonly printed anti-semitic articles and cartoons"(“Anti-semitism in the 1920’s”). Jews were discriminated in employment, social clubs, and sale of land and houses. Many institutions, including colleges, businesses, private schools and camps, placed restrictions against Jews, many times quite blatantly against this one group. (“The American”). It made it particularly difficult for Jews since anti-Semites "held high positions in the federal and state department." (Anti-semitism in the