One of the most infamous instances of American antisemitism is General Ulysses S. Grant’s 1862 General Order Number 11, which banned “Jews, as a class” from the Department of Tennessee. This presentation will revisit this language of southern Jews “as a class” in historical context, showing how Jews and non-Jews alike struggled to categorize Jews in a region – and a nation – dominated by Protestant religion and a rigid racial binary.

Shari Rabin is assistant professor of Jewish studies and religion at Oberlin College.