American Jews and the Civil Rights Movement

Abstract

The civil rights movement rocked the nation for more than a decade. The core years, 1954-1964, witnessed the greatest cooperation between blacks and whites. The 10-year period began with the Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, et. al., which called for desegregation of the nation's public schools, and ended with the Congressional passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (The act's legitimacy was later confirmed by the Supreme Court in Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States {379 U. S. 241 [196411]}). During that period blacks and most whites worked together in the North for an end to segregation; in the South, most of the white people shunned involvement and many actively opposed any change in the existing culture. No white ethnic group in the United States contributed as much to support the movement, both in terms of money given to the cause and individuals expending human energy, as did northern Jews. The conventional wisdom is that southern Jews, fearful for their own safety and for the safety of the Jewish community, did little or nothing. Northern Jews, on the other hand, joined the front ranks of the battles. In the two books under review here, Going South: Jewish Women in the Civil Rights Movement and Fight Against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights, the authors, Debra L. Schultz and Clive Webb, respectively, focus on aspects of the movement that they believe have either been overlooked or reported inaccurately. What is most striking in reading and discussing these books together, is that the former focuses upon individual women and their personal responses and explanations for involvement, while the latter dwells more on the societal concerns that dictated southern Jewish behavior. These