The Galveston Movement

By the late 1800's, thousands of Jews began fleeing their homes in Russia and Eastern Europe to escape anti-Semitic policies and violent pogroms. Many immigrated to the U.S., establishing communities in New York City and elsewhere along the East coast, where overcrowding coincided with growing anti-Semitic sentiment. The Galveston Movement was a humanitarian effort created to address these issues by dispersing Jews throughout the U.S., bringing nearly 10,000 Jewish immigrants through the Port of Galveston between 1907 and 1914. Banker and philanthropist Jacob Schiff championed the idea of bringing Jews to the South and was the sole donor of the plan, pledging $500,000. Galveston was chosen because its railroads and relatively small size would encourage immigrants to move elsewhere, and because it was home to Rabbi Henry Cohen of the local reform synagogue B'nai Israel and a small but thriving Jewish community. The first ship to arrive under the plan was the S.S. Cassel on July 1, 1907, from Bremen, Germany; 86 of the passengers were Jewish. Cohen welcomed the new immigrants, as he did each group that came during the program. Arrivals were processed at the Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau headquarters, where workers informed them of communities needing workers of varying skills and gave them railroad tickets and rations. More than 150 towns requested that the bureau send skilled workers. The program ended in 1914 when the Galveston office closed, and a total of 9,332 Jews came through Galveston. Although the number of Jews living in the American Midwest, South, and West never matched the numbers living in the East, the program brought thousands of Jews to places they had never imagined.

Galveston, Texas · United States