ABSTRACT
The first Blacks arrived in the American colonies in 1609; the first Jews in 1654. The former were indentured servants; the latter, merchants and professionals. The relative status of those early representatives was, in a sense, prophetic, for regardless of how far some Blacks were to move up the ladder of social mobility in the centuries ahead, Jews generally would be on a higher rung. Many Jewish immigrants began their new lives as peddlers and merchants or in the needle trades, struggling to survive and give their families a new lease on life. From 1910 to the early 1960s, the principal thrust of Black activists and their Jewish allies was to challenge this society to honor its own vaunted ideals. The coalition of Black, Jewish, and other White liberal integrationists held sway for over fifty years. The matter of Black support for the Arab cause generated a dialogue not only among Jews, but within the Black community as well.
