Civil Rights
Photo by John C. Goodwin
The civil rights movement has shifted over the last 50 years — broadening from the specific issue of equal rights for African Americans, to issues of immigration, access to education, employment opportunities, health care rights and environmental injustice that impact many minority and underserved communities. Perhaps more than any other social issue, Jewish people have been intimately involved with the struggle for civil rights in America. As the Jewish feminist Letty Cottin Pogrebin wrote in her autobiography, Deborah, Golda and Me, “Both blacks and Jews have known Egypt…”
For many decades — particularly in the mid-20th century — this shared history of “knowing Egypt,” meaning oppression, drove many Jews to the segregated south to march, sit-in, and speak out on behalf of African Americans’ rights. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s march in Selma with Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is perhaps the most famous example of strong black-Jewish relations. The march inspired Heschel to write his well-known words, “For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was about protest and prayer…Even without words, our march was worship. I felt my legs were praying.”
Though some activists would argue that the deep connection between Jews in America and the fight for civil rights has weakened over time, there are organizations in cities across the country pursuing civil rights justice from a Jewish perspective.
Ways to Serve Now
- Advocate for fair food access in a low-income neighborhood.
- Volunteer to test air quality for an environmental justice organization.
- Organize a text study or invite a civil rights advocate to speak in your community.
- Volunteer at a community health fair in an under-served neighborhood.
- Donate to the Posse Foundation, or another organization that helps disadvantaged teens reach their higher education goals.
Find more opportunities at Repair the World’s service opportunities page.
Learn More
Background on Jews & Civil Rights, Religious Action Council (RAC)
Blacks and Jews Entangled: The Complicated History of Jewish-Black Relations in America, Edward S. Shapiro, My Jewish Learning
Reconceptualizing Civil Rights for the 21st Century Ron Walters, The Louisiana Weekly, 11.2008
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