Gary Zola Presents Democracy and Dissent: Abraham Lincoln's Response to Jewish Prejudice During the Civil War

This session will draw from Professor Zola’s acclaimed volume, We Called Him Rabbi Abraham: Lincoln and American Jewry, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award.  Few are aware of the remarkable history linking American Jewry and President Lincoln.  Dr. Zola will explain how American Jewry protested efforts to limit their full participation in American democracy.  Lincoln responded to their appeals and, in doing so, he compelled the nation to live up to the lofty rhetoric enshrined in its founding documents  Lincoln’s personal and professional responses have caused American Jews to embrace the sixteenth president as a man who possessed a Jewish soul – as if he were one of us.

Gary Phillip Zola is a historian of American Jewry who specializes in the development of American Reform Judaism. He serves as Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA), the world’s largest free-standing research center dedicated solely to the study of the American Jewish experience.

Part of our Democracy and Resistance Series.