What role did Jews play in the American civil rights movement Essay

What role did Jews play in the American civil rights movement - Essay Example But in the 1960s, with the world watching on the evening news, many Jews traveled from northern cities to southern sites of marches, sit-ins, and rallies to support equal rights for African-Americans and to oppose those who would oppress them. Clearly there were motivating factors that made it beneficial for African Americans to have Jewish people helping them to attain equal rights. Any group who chose to support the civil rights movement would not only lend encouragement and backing, but also credibility and strength in numbers. Stephen J. Whitfield confirms that African Americans and Jews â€Å"have been so entangled that some twentieth-century Jews in the United States would imagine themselves black, and would blur the lines of race and ethnicity that bigotry had hoped to keep distinct† (Whitfield, 2008 , p. 353). However, it was not just an affinity or moral outrage that prompted Jewish people to become involved in the civil rights movement. Any victory for African Americans was a victory for Jews too. As a people, Jews have met with oppression throughout their history. Many felt as if they dwelt in a place somewhere between the dominant ethnicity of white Anglo-Saxon protestant and the most oppressed race in the United States, African American—sort of a gray area between black and white. By helping to obtain civil rights for African Americans, Jews knew that their cause would be swept along in the tide of change. They too would benefit from changes in federal legislation that would rein in some of the blatant injustice. Martin Luther King understood this. During the bus boycott in Montgomery, AL he said, â€Å"Our victory will not be a victory for Montgomery’s Negroes alone. It will be a victory for justice, a victory for fair play, and a victory for democracy.’ After the boycott proved successful, King refused to ‘take this as a victory over the white