The Image of the Jew in the Wyoming Frontier Press

Although Jews and other ethnic and racial minorities were uncommon in the more remote regions of the frontier American West, this did not mean that early settlers lacked an interest in these groups, their behaviors, their cultures and their beliefs, as shown in the press. This book analyzes newspaper articles, editorials and jokes published in Wyoming’s nascent press from 1867 through 1918. Nearly 30,000 pieces related to the representation of minorities by editors, journalists and others were studied, revealing an amalgam of classic anti-Semitic and racist tropes alongside seemingly benign, romantic portrayals that similarly served to stereotype these minority communities. As this study highlights, these attitudes were not confined to Wyoming or the American frontier but rather were part of broader societal trends that continue to persist in the present day.