Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

240 // EARL LEWIS
Pennsylvania, and New England, with only a sprinkling venturing south of the
Mason-Dixon line. Generally speaking, these newcomers suffered the travails of
immigrants seeking to establish themselves in a new land. 31
Although many years passed before the newly settled Jews amassed fortunes
of any note, several of their more established co-religionists were quite wealthy by
the turn of the century. Overwhelmingly of German Jewish background, many of
these elites were self-consciously assimilationists. They made their money in real
estate, banking, department stores, and business. More important, they totally
accepted their faith's belief in the importance of giving. From the 1840s through
the 1880s, when German Jewish immigration peaked, those who could built
schools such as Hebrew Union College (1875), social welfare institutions, and
charities.
As this group became more assimilated into a larger America, exogamous
issues also attracted their attention. Of course the oldtimers did not totally ignore
the newcomers from Russia, Poland, and other parts of Eastern Europe.
Settlement houses were created and funded, committees were established to ease
the transition, and advice on becoming Americans was readily dispensed. Still,
barred from the directorships and trusteeships of leading Gentile-controlled organizations,
they searched for other outlets for their money and opinions. At the
same time, through the establishment of a number of national organizations,
including the American Jewish Committee, these Jewish leaders became better
known to one another. Many hoped to thwart the palpable rise of anti-Semitism
by providing a larger public service.' 2
Meantime, Booker T. Washington, who voiced some of the same prejudices
toward Jews as other Americans, began to court the favor of Julius Rosenwald,
among others. William Baldwin died in 1905, and Washington, ever the astute
observer, had noticed that the wealth was shifting from the old abolitionist families
of New England to the industrial tycoons of New York and Chicago. In an
urge to attract their favor, he wrote Baldwin in 1904 of his intention of inviting
Paul M. Warburg "or some Hebrew of his standing" to join the school's governing
board. Warburg served for five years, during which time he introduced
Washington to members of his banking firm as well as others, including the
immensely wealthy Jacob Schiff. 33
It was Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck, and Company, who
cemented ties between Jews and the educational needs of Blacks. Several months
after reading Washington's autobiography Up From Slavery, and two years after
Warburg's 1909 departure, he joined the Institute's board of trustees. During his
tenure Rosenwald transported friends by private trains to see the fine work of the
Wizard—Washington's fetching appellation. Rosenwald donated overstocked or
slightly irregular clothes and shoes, which Washington sold to students for a
modest sum; he gave faculty and staff bonuses; and he enlisted help from the
nation's wealthy, many of whom were Jewish, in Washington's projects. After
Washington's death in 1915, Rosenwald made the first of two major contribu-