Galveston Movement
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The Galveston Movement operated between 1907 and 1914 to divert Jews fleeing Russia and eastern Europe away from crowded East Coast cities. Ten thousand Jewish immigrants passed through Galveston, Texas during this era, approximately one-third the number who migrated to Palestine during the same period. B'nai Israel's Rabbi Henry Cohen is credited with helping to found the Galveston Movement. [1]
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[edit] Origin
Concerned that the addition of major waves of Jewish immigration to crowded urban centers on the East Coast might precipitate both an increase in anti-Semitism and immigration restrictions, a Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau attempted to find suitable alternative destinations for the influx of immigrants.
Among the cities considered were Charleston, South Carolina, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Galveston, Texas. Charleston sought Anglo-Saxon immigrants, and New Orleans was threatened by outbreaks of yellow fever.
Galveston, already a destination of the German shipping company Norddeutscher Lloyd, which operated out of Bremen, provided convenience and access to the growing economic opportunities of the American West.
[edit] Years and number of immigrants
"In 1909 a total of 773 Jews landed at Galveston, and by the following year 2,500 had sailed to the port, most originating in small towns. In 1911 some 1,400 arrived, only 2 % of the total Jewish immigration to the United States in that year. By 1913 the situation had worsened; merchants became concerned about competition from immigrants, and an increasing number of immigrating Polish Jews who would not work on Saturday reduced the waning enthusiasm of American Jewish communities further. Three communities declined to take more; the representative from Cleburne, Texas, complained about the immigrants' "exactions, fault-finding, and refusal to abide by the labor conditions upon which they come.'"[2] Still throughout many of the small towns in Texas the courthouse square features stores founded in the early twentieth century by these immigrants who settled and became merchants.
[edit] See also
- Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas
- Galveston, Texas
- Henry Cohen Community House
- History of the Jews in Galveston, Texas
- Jewish Texan
- Port of Galveston
- Rabbi Henry Cohen
[edit] External links
- Galveston Movement from the Handbook of Texas Online
[edit] References
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