The Other Ellis Island: Jewish Immigration Through Galveston, Texas

The Other Ellis Island explores the Galveston Movement, which offered Eastern European Jewish immigrants an alternative route into the United States during the years before World War I. Between 1907 and 1914, nearly 10,000 Jewish immigrants arrived through Galveston, Texas, then continued to communities in other parts of the country. Dr. Joshua Furman will examine the movement’s goals, achievements, and shortcomings, while highlighting a rare 1907 recruitment pamphlet translated from Yiddish.

The program is part of the American Jewish Life Series and is presented in partnership with the Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies. Furman will also place the Galveston story within the broader history of Jewish communities between the East and West Coasts, particularly in Texas and Colorado.

When: Monday, November 30, 2026

Showtimes: 7:30–9 p.m.

Run time: Approximately 90 minutes

Venue: Virtual

Tickets: Price not available

Registration: Registration is required.

Presenter: Dr. Joshua Furman, Jeanne Abrams Endowed Director of the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society at the University of Denver

Presenter background: Furman is also affiliate faculty in the University of Denver’s Center for Judaic Studies. Before moving to Colorado in 2024, he worked at Rice University from 2015 through 2023, where he was associate director of the Program in Jewish Studies and founded and served as the first curator of the Joan and Stanford Alexander South Texas Jewish Archives.

Topics: The presentation covers Jewish immigration through Galveston, the movement’s successes and failures, the journeys immigrants took after arriving in Texas, and the lasting distribution of their descendants across North America and beyond.

Featured source: The program will examine a rare 1907 recruitment pamphlet, translated from Yiddish, that encouraged Jewish immigrants to settle in Texas and other destinations outside the East Coast.

Series: American Jewish Life Series

Presented in partnership with: Haberman Institute for Jewish Studies

Accessibility and age information: Not specified on the event page.