Content Warning: This section references antisemitism and Nazi Germany.

Jewish Americans already had well-established communities by the time of the Great Depression (when Florence Adler Swims Forever takes place). Many arrived in the 19th century during waves of German, Czech, and Polish immigration. By the turn of the century, Jewish Americans were prosperous business people, politicians, landowners, artists, writers, and industrialists, especially in major East Coast cities. The novel represents Jewish success through Joseph, who owns a successful bread factory, as well as secondary characters such as Eli Hirsch.

However, Jewish Americans also faced significant antisemitism, including harassment and sometimes violence. Ivy League schools, for instance, placed quotas on Jewish admission because they feared that too many Jewish people were attending prestigious universities. Similarly, elite circles often excluded Jewish people. Antisemitism especially targeted Eastern Europeans who arrived from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and neighboring countries in the early 20th century. These immigrants were often disparaged as poor and uneducated; they were also the targets of anti-communist sentiments, especially after the Russian Revolution of 1917, though many who arrived were fleeing antisemitic persecution from both the czarist regime and the revolutionaries that succeeded it. When they arrived to the United States, immigrants often received help from US Jewish organizations, but they were also often exploited as cheap garment workers.