Women's Role In The Civil Rights Movement

In addition to the northern and southern men and Rabbis advocating for the Civil Rights Movement, there were also a large number of Jewish women activists. In the South, women activists were seen as promiscuous beings who were seeking interracial sexual activities. Jewish women would sometimes have jobs in organizations for the civil rights movement doing things like writing about the movement and holding fundraising activities. The Jewish women activists were seen as people who “played a significant though barely recognized role in shaping public perceptions of the movement”. However, staying behind the scenes writing about the movement was not enough for some women, and many chose to engage in direct nonviolent confrontational activities …show more content…
and marches all resulted in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Bill of 1965. Great change was occurring, However, some believed it was happening a little bit too slowly. A new group of civil rights leaders made up of young African Americans came about trying to make change occur at a faster pace. In a result to these new leaders being brought in, many Jews were removed from their positions in civil rights organizations. A famous African-American writer who went by the name of James Baldwin once wrote, “One does not wish, in short, to be told by an American Jews that his suffering was as great as the American Negro’s suffering. It isn’t and one knows that it isn’t from the very tone in which he assured you that it is.” After the late 1960s, the cooperation and state of understanding that existed between the Jews and African Americans weakened considerably. Each group had contrasting agendas and they became primarily absorbed in their own concerns and problems. The African Americans were still worrying about issues such as Black Power and economic/educational advances, while the Jews were more concerned with the issues going on in Israel. In 1967, Jews everywhere in the world were standing by in horror as five Arab countries combined their armies for an attack on Israel. However, Israel was successful and American Jews “experienced a renewed surge for pride in Israel and a reaffirmation of Jewish life and religion.” African Americans however, did not share the same amount of pride for Israel as the Jewish people did. They compared their own struggles for freedom to the Palestinians and viewed Jews as oppressors, therefore resulting in an even greater