In a talk on "America's Unexpected Alliance between the Irish and the Jews," Professor Hasia Diner challenges the widely held assumption that early 20th-century ethnic emigrants in the U.S. were uniformly hostile to one another, competing in open battle for scarce resources.
One well-known instance of such adversity is that between Jews and anti-Semitic Irish Catholics. In her new book Opening Doors: The Unlikely Alliance Between the Irish and the Jews in America (2024), Diner tells us otherwise. Given today's rising antiSemitism and xenophobia, her insightful work provides an inspiring look at a time when two radically different ethnic and religious groups found common ground and cooperated in overcoming bigotry, gaining political representation, and setting a tone of inclusiveness.
Sunday, February 2, 2025, 3:00 p.m. PT, Connect on Zoom: tinyurl.com/Taubman-Diner