The story of Jews in America is told in "Present at the Creation 1654-1820," the first installment of a series that was shown on PBS, They Came for Good. Beginning with the arrival of 23 Brazilian Jews who fled persecution and arrived unwelcome at the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam in 1654, the story involves a number of heroic figures who fought for the rights of Jews to own property and practice their religion in the New World. One such colonist, Asher Levy, whose name is memorialized on several landmarks in New York City today, was a successful merchant who fought against being treated as a second-class citizen. During the American Revolution, Jewish financiers helped the Colonial cause, and in what would have been startling in a European country of that era, President George Washington wrote a letter expressing his wishes that America not practice bigotry directed at Jews. Actors in period costume appear as Jews of the time, telling stories derived from diaries and letters of how they managed to mesh in the new country while at the same time keeping to the strict Jewish customs. This is a very intelligently produced look at an aspect of early American history that is often overlooked.
In "Taking Root 1820-1880," the second installment of They Came for Good, a series that aired on PBS, the role of Jews in American history is examined in an informative and entertaining manner. In the early days of the new nation, 15,000 Jewish peddlers traveled the roads and were a main method of distribution for goods manufactured in the industrial northeast. As many of the peddlers settled down, small towns across the country often had one Jewish-owned store on the main street. Stories tell of some of the notable Jewish merchants and businessmen, including a peddler named Levi Strauss who arrived in California during the Gold Rush and made his fortune by inventing pants made of heavy canvas that were soon the preferred work clothes among miners. Actors in period garb appear to enact the roles of prominent Jews, speaking passages discovered in diaries and letters written by Jewish religious, civic, and business leaders. The development of reform and conservative Judaism in America is also discussed, and historians offer insights into how Jewish life developed in unique ways in America, including service on both sides in the Civil War. By 1880, more than 250,000 Jews would arrive in America as they fled persecution in eastern Europe, and a young Jewish woman in New York, Emma Lazarus, would write "The New Colossus," the poem associated with the Statue of Liberty. This is an engaging look at how Jews contributed greatly to the building of the American nation.