Lincoln and the Jews: A Virtual Tour

Take a virtual tour of the exhibit "Lincoln and the Jews", displayed at the New York Historical Society Museum and Library in 2015.   

Marking the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, this exhibition focuses on the significant, and hitherto unknown, relationships and interactions between Abraham Lincoln and his Jewish friends and associates.

At a time when Jews comprised less than one-half of one percent of the American population, and with the country rampant with prejudice, Lincoln’s positive and meaningful personal relationships with Jewish individuals not only arguably changed him but also had an important and lasting impact on the status of American Jews. Lincoln stood up to his anti-Semitic generals even as he depended upon them to win the war, and became an advocate for Jewish equality and acceptance.