A wave of anti-Jewish violence followed the assassination of Alexander II and spread through cities and towns in the Russian Empire, especially in present-day Ukraine. Homes and businesses were attacked while official protection was often inadequate. Continuing persecution helped drive mass Jewish migration towards Western Europe and the Americas.

The pogroms entered Yiddish and Hebrew stories, poems and journalism and strengthened modern Jewish literary culture. Writers such as Sholem Aleichem and I. L. Peretz portrayed communities unsettled by violence, poverty, migration and rapid social change.