The history of Antisemitism in Connecticut dates to the establishment of the

Connecticut Colony The Connecticut Colony, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony, was an English colony in New England which later became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636, as a settlement for a Puritans, Puritan congregation o ...

. Prior to the passage of the

1968 Fair Housing Act The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...

, Jewish people were excluded from living in many white Christian neighborhoods throughout Connecticut due to the use of restrictive covenants and quotas. Between the 1920s and 1960s, quota systems were instituted at universities in Connecticut to limit the number of Jewish people, including at Yale University and Wesleyan University. During the 2010s and 2020s, Connecticut has seen an increase in reported incidents of antisemitic vandalism and violence.

History

19th century

Prior to 1843, synagogues and other Jewish congregations were prohibited from forming in Connecticut. In that year, the Revised Statutes of Connecticut was revised to state that "Jews who may desire to unite and form religious societies may have the same rights, powers, and privileges as are given to Christians of every denomination by the laws of the State."

20th century

Residential segregation

Prior to the passage of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, between the 1920s and the 1960s,

restrictive covenants A covenant, in its most general and historical sense, is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Under historical English common law, a covenant was distinguished from an ordinary contract by the presence of a seal. Be ...

in real estate barred Jewish people from living in many white Christian neighborhoods throughout the state. In

New Canaan New Canaan () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 20,622 according to the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. About an hour from New York City by train, the town ...

, these covenants were known as "gentleman's agreements" and were used to exclude Black people, Jews, and other minority groups.

Antisemitic quotas

In 1920,

Jewish quota A Jewish quota was a discriminatory racial quota designed to limit or deny access for Jews to various institutions. Such quotas were widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries in developed countries and frequently present in higher education, o ...

s at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

were instituted by the university's admissions committee. The committee established that no more than 5 Jewish students could be admitted per medical class. Jewish quotas were used at Yale until the 1960s. During the 1930s,

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

used Jewish quotas to reduce the number of Jewish students. In 1934, Wesleyan University president James L. McConaughy became the first president of an American university to publicly acknowledge the existence of Jewish quotas when he went of record discouraging Jewish students from entering the field of medicine.

21st century

For the year 2022, the Anti-Defamation League reported that reported antisemitic incidents were at a record high. 68 antisemitic incidents were reported in that year, an increase of 100%. 55 of the incidents involved harassment and 13 involved vandalism. No violent assaults were recorded. Connecticut ranked 11th of all US states in 2022 for number of reported antisemitic incidents. During the 2023

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, several instanced were reported in Stamford at a high school of antisemitic graffiti of

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

s painted on campus. No suspects were found, but school and city officials announced "anti-bias programming" for middle and high schools in the district.

References

External links

Standing Together Against Anti-Semitism
Connecticut House Democrats {{Antisemitism in the United States Antisemitism in the United States by state