Wednesday, Oct 21, 2026
An Ambivalent Welcome: Anti-Judaism in Early America with Pam Nadell
6 pm ET (and recorded)
$12 plus applicable fees
$54 gives you access to all live and recorded events in the series
Livestream
On October 21 join us for a presentation by Professor Pamela Nadell as our series celebrating 250 years of Jewish life in America continues.
“Gentiles cannot forsake their anti-Jewish prejudice.” In 1791 Rebecca Samuels wrote these words in Virginia. But in other letters she praised America as “the only country in the world for the common man” and admitted that “[a]s for the Gentiles, we have nothing to complain about.” Living in a tiny Jewish community in the new American republic, her words show America’s early Jews holding two truths at the same time. Even as they flourished in the new nation, they understood that their neighbors had not only carried knapsacks across the ocean. They had also carried medieval ideas about nefarious Jews.
More About Pam Nadell:
Professor Pamela Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History at American University. Her book America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today won the 2019 National Jewish Book Award’s Everett Family Foundation “Book of the Year” and was translated into Hebrew. The Wall Street Journal named her new book, Antisemitism, an American Tradition to its October 2025 best books list. A past president of the Association for Jewish Studies, Nadell is a member of the Advisory Board planning the rebuild of Pittsburgh’s The Tree of Life. However, to her chagrin, she may best be known for testifying before Congress in the hearing with the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
So how does this all work?
- By purchasing our 250 Years of Jewish Life in America series, you are gaining access to a year’s worth of events with the nation’s top Jewish historians. You will be able to watch them all live on Zoom, and they will also be recorded for later viewing. Each event will be one hour long.
Can I purchase a ticket to individual events if I don’t want to buy the full package?
- Yes. (But the entire package for just $54 is quite a deal!)
How many events will there be?
- At least eight, spread out throughout the year.
What if I have more questions about how this works?
- You can email events@70facesmedia.org.
