African-American Jews

Most Jewish people in the United States identify as non-Hispanic White individuals, but the Jewish population in the United States has some racial diversity that increased in the early twenty-first century. This includes African Americans who identify as Jewish. The designation of African American Jews is given to people who are of African descent, living in the United States, and also Jewish. This includes people who may have converted to the religion of Judaism or been born into the Jewish faith through their heritage. In addition, those of mixed African American and Jewish heritage also can be considered African American Jews.

African American Jews may belong to different groups that are considered within the mainstream Jewish faith, including orthodox, conservative, and reformed. In addition, they may be part of less common or even controversial fringe denominations, such as reconstructionist, humanistic, or Black Hebrew Israelites. They may also be secularist, which means they do not take part in Jewish religious practices, but still consider themselves of Jewish heritage.

Background

African American Jews date back to the founding of the United States, since Jewish people with African ancestry lived in the Americas during colonial times. Sephardic, Mizrachi, and Ethiopian Jewish people with dark skin lived in North Africa and the Middle East and are among those who eventually immigrated to the United States. Historians also believe there may have been Africans of Jewish faith who were forced to convert to Christianity when brought to the Americas as enslaved people, and these or their descendants later returned to their Jewish faith.

Many African American Jews also have ties to the Caribbean. By the late sixteenth century, Jewish communities had developed in the Caribbean, and over time, these colonies grew. Up until the mid-nineteenth century, some of the largest Jewish communities were in colonial islands of the Caribbean, such as Jamaica and Barbados. Also living in these colonies were enslaved people brought to the islands by European colonizers and others of African descent. Jewish households, especially the prominent and wealthy, often owned enslaved people. While official marriages between Jewish slave owners and enslaved individuals of African descent were not necessarily socially acceptable, some socially acceptable relationships resulted in children of mixed race. In time, Jewish people of African descent became more common in the Caribbean, and some of these people eventually moved to the United States.

For example, Isaac Lopez Brandon (born in 1792) and Sarah Rodrigues Brandon (born in 1798) were children of an enslaved African mother and a Jewish merchant slave owner in Barbados. These African American Jewish siblings are famous for having their likenesses as young people immortalized in ivory miniature portraits that are on display at the Jewish Heritage Center in New York City. Although the daughter of an enslaved mother, Sarah was given an education in Judaism abroad in London and raised to be a wife of a wealthy Jewish husband. She came to the United States and eventually married a prominent Jewish man, Joshua Moses, in the early 1800s. Her story illustrates how some Jews of African descent came to the United States. By the twentieth century, African American synagogues were formed in New York City as more African American Jews were living there. Mixed-race and predominantly African American congregations were formed in other cities, as well. Chicago became home to the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation started by Rabbi Horace Hasan, an African American Jew originally from India. Robin Washington, a mixed-raced African American Jew from Chicago, was one of the founders of the National Conference of Black Jews in 1955, along with other African American Jews, including Michelle Stein-Evers and Rabbi Capers C. Funnye Jr. The organization later became known as the Alliance of Black Jews. Its goal was to unite Jews of different varieties of the Judaism faith and their African American heritage.

In the 1880s, Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy established the Black Hebrew Israelite faith after they had spiritual revelations in which God told them that African Americans were descendants of the Twelve Tribes of the Israelites Hebrew people and had been oppressed by Europeans for their disobedience to God. The teachings of Black Hebrew Israelites include aspects of Christianity and Judaism in their religious practices, along with other philosophies. Congregations were formed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in many major cities and drew African American and West Indian immigrant worshippers. Black Hebrew Israelites further divided into organizations and congregations in various parts of the United States. Black Hebrew Israelite groups and churches are not recognized by mainstream Judaism or the Jewish ethnic community and are not considered part of Christianity either. However, some Black Hebrew Israelites self-identify as African American Jews.

Overview

Some African American Jews were born or adopted into Jewish families, while others converted to Judaism as adults. Other households are a blend of ethnicities or faiths, and children are raised with both perspectives. A 2020 Pew Research Center survey found that 8 percent of Jewish-Americans identify as non-White, and 1 percent identify as Black and non-Hispanic. The Jews of Color Initiative, an organization designed to support and empower African American Jews, also conducted a study in 2021 of 1,100 participants who self-identified as Jews of color. Nearly half of their survey respondents identified as biracial, mixed, or multiracial. Sixty-four percent had at least one Jewish parent, and 40 percent reported themselves as converts to the Jewish faith. It was also noted that younger Jewish people are more likely to identify as non-White. The Pew Research Center study found that 15 percent of Jewish adults under thirty identify as non-White, which includes African Americans.

African Americans have long endured discrimination and prejudice in the United States, and African American Jews must contend with the same prejudice and racism based on their skin color, sometimes even facing this within their faith community. The 2021 study by the Jews of Color Initiative reported that 80 percent of participants had experienced discrimination in a setting in the Jewish community, such as while attending a synagogue. Another organization that aims to provide support and inclusiveness to Jewish people of color, Jews in ALL Hues, reports that non-White Jews often find themselves underrepresented and without resources that other White Jewish people have access to in traditionally White Jewish communities.

In addition, African American Jews face prejudice and discrimination from outside the Jewish community. Those who converted to Judaism from a Christian background are especially likely to face misunderstandings and even religious persecution from families and communities. Some well-meaning family or friends may not understand why an African American wants to be part of a historically White religious group. They may feel that the African American is turning their back on their African American heritage and customs. However, many African American Jews have found ways to reconcile their African heritage and Jewish faith. Some have even incorporated traditional African foods, such as sweet potatoes, into Passover meal celebrations, all while keeping the traditional meal kosher.

Many African American Jews, too, find parallels between their heritage and the plight of the Jewish people in history. For example, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt and treated terribly by the Egyptians. Once liberated, they wandered in the desert for forty years while struggling to survive. The Jewish people have also faced centuries of discrimination and persecution, sometimes being forced to flee their homeland. Because of this, there has been a sympathetic connection between African Americans and Jews in the advancement of civil rights in the United States. In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in part by American Jews. In addition, during the 1960s, many Jewish people supported African American civil rights, fighting together to gain equality. Many Jews also supported the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests in the early 2020s.

It should be noted that African American Jews or Jews of color who subscribe to mainstream Jewish faiths are not the same as Black Hebrew Israelites, which is a separate ideology. Black Hebrew Israelites have come under criticism for not being part of the mainstream Jewish community and extremist antisemitic and racist views, which are at times made known through outspoken methods of preaching, such as on the street corners of cities. Some groups have been accused of targeting passersby of all races and faiths and calling them names using racial slurs. Many Black Hebrew Israelites do not accept mainstream African American Jews as being authentic, either. However, not all Black Hebrew Israelites have antisemitic or anti-White beliefs, and some organizations strive to adhere to traditional Judaism while keeping their African heritage prominent in their worship and traditions.

Bibliography

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