ISSN:
0278-5927
Language:
English
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of American ethnic history : JAEH
Publ. der Quelle:
Champaign, Ill : University of Illinois Press
Angaben zur Quelle:
Vol. 34, No. 3 (2015), p. 34-57
DDC:
390
Abstract:
During the interwar years--intensifying during the Depression and exploding during the Second World War--name changing in New York City became a popular activity, one that was predominantly Jewish, gender-integrated, and carried out by families nearly as frequently as by individuals. Ironically, this strategy illustrated Jews' economic comfort in the US--the Greenberger children were not searching for manual labor--as much as it illustrated Jewish disadvantage: an identifiable Jewish name "was not helpful to securing good employment" in an era of rampant and growing antisemitism. Ultimately, name changing was a strategy that permitted Jewish families to attain and strengthen their position in the American middle class, but that strategy came at psychological and communal cost. Here, Fermaglich examines the name change petitions filed with the City Court of the City of New York from 1887 through 2002.
Note:
Copyright: © Copyright 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jamerethnhist.34.3.0034
URL:
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1679875051
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