08/24/2025
September 16, 1891: 11 illegal immigrant Jews evading Russian pogroms arrive at the Port of Charlotte in Rochester, NY.
Rochester Rabbi and Jewish historian Stuart Rosenberg’s narrative of intra-ethnic strife between German and Eastern European Jews does not appear to have applied during this event, as the German Jewish capitalists immediately began defending their presence.
None of the illegals were deported.
Earlier that year, anti-immigration Knights of Labor socialist James Hughes was indicted for conspiracy for demanding a cash settlement from Rochester’s clothiers in exchange for ceasing the Knights’ nationwide boycott of Rochester clothing. Much of the evidence for the indictment was supplied by Rochester’s Clothier’s Exchange.
Additional points of contention included the restriction of immigrant labor. This included limitations on the incredibly offensive practice of having current workers train immigrant apprentices, a practice justified by the Jews using Republican-rooted, free association ideology.
It is notable that Rochester’s clothing companies of that age are often described by Rochester historian and noted philosemite, Blake Mckelvey as being part of a “predominantly Jewish industry.”
Eventually, the Knights of Labor were split, and Hughes was convicted. In addition to reprisals taken against Knights loyalists, Samuel Gompers, the Jewish president of the American Federation of Labor sent a detachment to Rochester for recruiting among the now broken labor movement. According to Rabbi Rosenberg, “There were repeated rumors that the Clothiers' Exchange had engineered this conflict between the unions.”
