Brodkin Chapter 4 "How Jew Became White Folks"

1) Karen Brodkin is showing the reader how the post world war II society bridged the gap between the different Euro-groups, but did not bridge the gap between the whites and blacks.

2) Brodkin begins her argument by stating the difference between the four major European races, and how the Jews were at the bottom. She shows how the American society favored the Noridics because most teachers had to be able to "speak 'standard,' i.e., nonimmigrant, nonaccented English." and "that most believed that the speech test was designed to keep all ethnics, not just Jews, out of teaching" (pg 41). This shows how before the war society tried to separate everyone from each other including all whites. As time went on the differences between the four groups of Euro Races slowly disappeared because members of the Jewish community worked hard to become part of the middle class and no longer be in the working class. Brodkin states, "Some of the changes set in motion during the war against fascism led to a more inclusive version of whiteness. Anti-Semitism and anti-European racism lost respectability" (pg 45). This shows how during the war to gap between the four Euro races grew shut. This gap grew smaller with the help of the GI Bill of Rights. This bill helped people find jobs after the war, small loans for starting up businesses, and educational benefits, which helped people, go to college after the war. The author then begins to talk about how the benefits caused a "postwar boom that transformed America's class structure-or at least its status structure - so that the middle class expanded to encompass most of the population." Even though the middle class expanded it did not include the African Americans. The bill did not help the African Americans as much as it did the Euro Americans. Along with this, as cities were urbanized the white people were better able to get housing compared to the African Americans, because "developers refused to sell to African Americans" (pg 47). This caused the gap between the African Americans and the Euro Americans to grow.

3) Since the money sent to GIs from the GI Bill of Rights gave people loans to open up businesses, why didn't any of the African Americans open up an architecture firm and build houses for the other African Americans?

Why were more colleges for African Americans opened after the war, when the demand for education increased?

4) I agree with the Brodkin about how even though anti-semitism declined after the war, it was still hard for society to adjust fully and become one united society. I believe that it is good though that the gaps between the four Euro races was able to decline because the middle-class grew. This shows that there is a possibility for different races to still be able to come together and be one society instead of different races. Even though this bridged gap occurred because of a war, it showed that congress was willing to do something to help out the other men, who they possibly viewed as being different. With society more advanced today, we could come together, with the help of congress. However I feel that that time was the time to bridge all gaps between all races. That time period was time of great growth in the country, whereas in today's society many people are advanced, and only a few are viewed to be not advanced. The gap between races may now be too big to overcome even if we follow the footsteps of the post WWII generation.