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7. Female Reformers
- University of Georgia Press
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FEMALE REFORMERS It seemed a familiar story. On March 20,1955, members from across the country assembled in New Orleans for the twenty-first annual convention of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW). At anunspecified point during the proceedings, a resolution was proposed, pledging support for the immediate integration of public schools throughout the South. Despite dissent from severalsouthern members, the resolution was adopted. In an unusual display of solidarity with the national body, delegates from the Greater New Orleans section of the NCJW agreed to issue a statement in support of the resolution. According to this statement, the New Orleans delegates would, "in cooperation with other organizations or solely, and byvarious methods to the best of its ability,educate and inform its members and the community to their responsibilities . . . to work toward an effective implementation of the Supreme Court Decision on Segregation." In emphasizing the need for southerners to obey the law, the authors of the statement consciously avoided the issue of morality.Anything so radicalwould only antagonize the local white community and undermine the position that the NCJW had just adopted. Nevertheless, there were those within the NCJW who were unwilling to be identified with even the most moderate message of support for desegregation. The result was a flurry of resignations.1 In assuming any initiative at all on the integration issue, the New Orleans delegates were almost unique among southern members of the NCJW. Southern chapters did occasionally seize the initiative on civil rights, such as the efforts of the Charleston Council to integrate the local police force. More typical was the response in Birmingham,Alabama.NCJW field representative Sara Lee Berkman wrote to Mrs. William B. Goldstein in January 1956, requesting any input that the local Council could provide in helping to resolve the race problem. It was an entire month before Goldstein replied, and then with little to report. Desegregation, she wrote, had been discussed during a 7 148 FIGHT A G A I N S T FEAR special meeting convened at Birmingham Southern College by the Coordinating Council of Social Forces. Among those who attended was arepresentative from the local Council of the NCJW, who reported only one actual agreement: "that the process will be slow and of long duration." As to how the process might be accelerated, Mrs. Goldstein offered no ideas. "I don't think this is as much information asyou would like," she conceded, "but we are not able to take a position contrary to the community at large."2 So long as other civic and religious organizations stayed silent about the Supreme Court decision, any public proclamations from the local Council would single it out for attacks by outraged segregationists. The concerns of its members across the South eventually caused the NCJW to reconsider its stance on integration. At a specialmeeting of its executivecommittee inApril 1956, it was agreed that "NCJW in recognition of the existingproblem will not identify NCJW and its memberswith the causeof racial integration and desegregation in those communities where such identification could jeopardizethe position, livelihood and safety of those members and their families."3 Evidently the NCJW had to endure the same internal disputes as did other Jewish organizations during the desegregation crisis. Fear led manysouthern Jewish women to oppose any involvement in civil rights. Yetthere were still those who overcame their anxieties. Either individually or collectively, they contributed to the collapse of Jim Crow. In telling their story, this chapter throws light on the previouslyneglected role of Jewishwomen within the civil rights protests of the twentieth century. Scholars havepaid surprisinglyscant attention to the role of southern white women in the civil rights movement. Women had in fact swelled the ranksof southern liberalism since the 19305. The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL), founded by JessieDanielAmes,had led the fight against one of the greatest racial injustices in the region. Women were also actively involved in other civil rights organizations such as the Southern Regional Council and local chapters of the National Urban League. Jewish women were conspicuous by their presenceamong this newgeneration of female reformers. Mrs. Israel Kaplan,for instance, servedasvice chairperson of the Florida Council of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (cic) during the 19408. Atlantan social worker Rhoda Kaufman also campaigned tirelessly for the cic. Jennie Seidman was an active member of the South Carolina Progressive Democratic Party. Hannah Shulhafer of Atlanta served as a member of the Atlanta Urban League and, after WorldWarII, the Southern Regional Council...