Sign-In
Cart
The Great Christmas Boycott of 1906: Antisemitism and the Battle Over Christianity in the Public Schools
Hardcover
General World HistoryRegional: Middle Atlantic
Publisher Price: $34.95
ISBN13: 9781640126541
Publisher: Potomac Books
Published: Nov 1 2025
Pages: 224
Weight: 1.05
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.60
Language: English
Grand Prize Silver Winner for the 2025 Reader Views Literary Award in Nonfiction
Gold Winner for the 2025 Reader Views Literary Award in History
Silver Winner for the 2025 Reader Views Literary Award in Nonfiction
Finalist for the 2025 Foreword INDIES Book Award
Today's battles over Christianity in U.S. public schools have deep roots. In the nineteenth century it was an intramural struggle between Protestants and later-arriving Catholics. But at Christmastime in 1905, when Frank Harding, the Presbyterian principal of a Brooklyn elementary school, urged his Jewish students to be more like Jesus, the Jewish community entered the fray in a big way. It was just the trigger Orthodox Jewish activist Albert Lucas had been waiting for. Fresh from battling Christian settlement houses intent on converting Jewish children, Lucas accused the public schools of illegal proselytizing and called for Harding's ouster.
After the Board of Education let Harding off in 1906 with a slap on the wrist and declined to clarify the rules governing religion in schools, New York's Jews staged a boycott of school Christmas pageants in protest. The board's concession to exclude sectarian hymns and religious compositions generated enormous antisemitic public backlash. Jews were accused of waging war on Christmas and of being less than true Americans.
The Great Christmas Boycott of 1906 traces the Christmas celebration dispute to the present day and describes how Jewish organizations of the twenty-first century, persuaded that politics are unlikely ever to permit a victory, seem to have reconciled themselves to the status quo and moved on to other, more winnable issues.
Also from
Seligman, Scott D.
The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Shook New York City
Seligman, Scott D.
Hardcover
The Chief Rabbi's Funeral: The Untold Story of America's Largest Antisemitic Riot
Seligman, Scott D.
Hardcover
Murder in Manchuria: The True Story of a Jewish Virtuoso, Russian Fascists, a French Diplomat, and a Japanese Spy in Occupied China
Seligman, Scott D.
Hardcover
The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Shook New York City
Seligman, Scott D.
Paperback
The Third Degree: The Triple Murder That Shook Washington and Changed American Criminal Justice
Seligman, Scott D.
Hardcover
Murder in Manchuria: The True Story of a Jewish Virtuoso, Russian Fascists, a French Diplomat, and a Japanese Spy in Occupied China
Seligman, Scott D.
Audio Book
Murder in Manchuria: The True Story of a Jewish Virtuoso, Russian Fascists, a French Diplomat, and a Japanese Spy in Occupied China
Seligman, Scott D.
Audio Book
Also in
Regional: Middle Atlantic
A Light in Dark Times: The New School for Social Research and Its University in Exile
Friedlander, Judith
Paperback
Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation's Capital
Musgrove, George Derek
Asch, Chris Myers
Paperback
History Hiding Around Broadway: Backstage Lore, Secrets & Surprises from New York's Famed Theater District
Dvornik, Teale
Hardcover
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars
Collins, Paul
Paperback
Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball
Epplin, Luke
Hardcover
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Paperback
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Hardcover
First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands
Stager, Curt
Fadden, David Kanietakeron
Paperback
The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
Blum, Deborah
Paperback
Hidden Histories of Jazz Age New York: From the Suppressed to the Strange
Goldman, Jonathan Ezra
Paperback
George Washington's Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution
Kilmeade, Brian
Yaeger, Don
Paperback
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America
Shorto, Russell
Paperback
The Worst Day: A Plane Crash, a Train Wreck, and Remarkable Acts of Heroism in Washington, DC
Goldfarb, Bruce
Paperback
The Indispensables: The Diverse Soldier-Mariners Who Shaped the Country, Formed the Navy, and Rowed Washington Across the Delaware
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paperback
Hannah Mary Tabbs and the Disembodied Torso: A Tale of Race, Sex, and Violence in America
Gross, Kali Nicole
Paperback
Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séances in Lily Dale
Handley-Cousins, Sarah
Rhodes, Marissa C.
Earls, Averill
Hardcover
Spooky Pennsylvania: Tales of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, and Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Paperback
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City
Mahler, Jonathan
Paperback
Into the Night: A Jailbreak and Double Homicide on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Fowler, Stephanie L.
Paperback
All Roads Lead to Hastings-on-Hudson: A History of the Lower Hudson River Valley and New York City
Lillard, Jonathan Foster
Paperback
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation
Cannell, Michael
Hardcover
The French Connection: A True Account of Cops, Narcotics, and International Conspiracy
Moore, Robin
Paperback
The Maid and the Socialite: The Brave Women Behind Green Bay's Scandalous Minahan Trials
Drews, Lynda
Paperback
Cycling the Erie Canal: A Guide to 360 Miles of Adventure and History Along the Erie Canalway Trail
Parks & Trails New York
Paperback
More Punk Than the Public Library: The Adventures of a Little Free Punk Rock Bookstore
Bennett, J. Hunter
Paperback
The Only Plane in the Sky (Revised and Expanded Edition for the 25th Anniversary): An Oral History of 9/11
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
The Sewards of New York: A Biography of a Leading American Political Family
Slaughter, Thomas P.
Hardcover
Forty-Four Years, the Life of a Hunter: Being Reminiscences of Meshach Browning, a Maryland Hunter and Trapper
Browning, Meshach
Paperback
Pepperpot City: Philadelphia and the Foundation of American Cuisine, an Illustrated History
Weaver, William Woys
Hardcover
A Century of Music Under the Stars: A History of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts and Robin Hood Dell
McCarthy, Jack
The Mann Center for the Performing Arts
Hardcover
A Monument of Charity: St. Vincent's Hospital and Catholic Health Care in New York City
Rzeznik, Thomas F.
Hardcover
A Hudson Valley Reckoning: Discovering the Forgotten History of Slaveholding in My Dutch American Family
Bruno, Debra
Hardcover
They Said It Couldn't Be Done: The '69 Mets, New York City, and the Most Astounding Season in Baseball History
Coffey, Wayne
Paperback
Georgetown's Retail Past: Generations of Shops and Restaurants in One of America's Great Historic Neighborhoods
Peters, Kenneth G.
Paperback
The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution
Taylor, Alan
Paperback
The Hudson Valley: The First 250 Million Years: A Mostly Chronological and Occasionally Personal History
Levine, David
Paperback
Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York
Hortis, C. Alexander
Hardcover
Into the Night: A Jailbreak and Double Homicide on Maryland's Eastern Shore
Fowler, Stephanie L.
Hardcover
The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York: Historic Streets, Hidden Spots, and Iconic Neighborhoods in Manhattan
Meyers, Tom
Young, Greg
Paperback
Cornell '77: The Music, the Myth, and the Magnificence of the Grateful Dead's Concert at Barton Hall
Conners, Peter
Hardcover
Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities That Shaped a Borough
Kanakamedala, Prithi
Hardcover
Fighting for New York: Activism for Health and Social Justice Since the 1960s
Freudenberg, Nicholas
Paperback
Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital
Oshinsky, David
Paperback
Queen of Bohemia Predicts Own Death: Gilded-Age Journalist Zoe Anderson Norris
Kahn, Eve M.
Hardcover
The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty
Hogeland, William
Paperback
Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation
Cannell, Michael
Paperback
Battles at Annapolis: Two Remarkable Football Games in the Army-Navy Rivalry
Gendell, David
Paperback
We're Not Leaving: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal
Luft, Benjamin J.
Paperback
150 Years of Racing in Saratoga: Little-Known Stories & Facts from America's Most Historic Racing City
Carter, Allan
Kane, Mike
Hardcover
Rhythms of Resistance and Resilience: How Black Washingtonians Used Music and Sports in the Fight for Equality
Jackson, Maurice
Hardcover
The Ancient House: Constructing Community in the Seventeenth-Century New York Borderlands
Kramer, Erin B.
Paperback
Action Park: Fast Times, Wild Rides, and the Untold Story of America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park
Mulvihill, Andy
Rossen, Jake
Paperback
The Mayor: One Poor City's Fight to Bring Back Government and Save the Nation's Soul
Alexander, Brian
Hardcover
Nights in Fairyland: Gossip, Blackmail, and the Many Lives of "Broadway Brevities"
Straw, Will
Paperback
Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs
Kadinsky, Sergey
Paperback
The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom
Gronningsater, Sarah L. H.
Paperback
The Last Days of the Schooner America: A Lost Icon at the Annapolis Warship Factory
Gendell, David
Hardcover
Capote's Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era
Leamer, Laurence
Paperback
Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City
Nagle, Robin
Paperback
Ring the Bell: How the Philadelphia Phillies Built Baseball's Best Fan Base
Reavy, Kevin
Fritz, Jack
Hardcover
Fort Niagara: The Key to the Inland Oceans and the French Movement to Dominate North America
Utley, William Edward
Scott, Patricia Kay
Paperback
The Big Book of New Jersey Ghost Stories
Martinelli, Patricia A.
Stansfield, Charles A., Jr.
Paperback
City Tavern: The Founding Table--Colonial Dining, Revolutionary History, and the Restaurant at the Center of It All
Diamond, Becky Libourel
Paperback
Deadly Gamble: The Wreck of Schooner Levin J Marvel, The true story of Chesapeake Bay's worst sailing disaster
Smith, Kathy Bergren
Paperback
Appalachian Magazine's Mountain Superstitions, Ghost Stories & Haint Tales: A Collection of Memories & Commentaries from the Mountains of Appalachia
Magazine, Appalachian
Paperback
Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle Volume 54
Lender, Mark Edward
Stone, Garry Wheeler
Paperback