\n<\/b>Read Introduction<\/a>
<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cThe AJC began developing its program of using Joachim Prinz, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Shad Polier <\/p>\n Born in Aiken, South Carolina, Shad Polier Except for a brief stint in the private <\/p>\n Roy Wilkins receiving Convention Award from Shad <\/p>\n The Polier\u2019s Polier [1]<\/a> \u201cThe Jew and the racial crisis\u201d, Office of Jewish [2]<\/a> \u201cJews Deny \u2018Heated\u2019 Feud over Negro Rights Issue\u201d, [3]<\/a> National Jewish Post and Opinion article by Gershom [4]<\/a> Transcript of Symposium on Negro-Jewish Tensions,
\nlegislation and litigation to protect human rights in 1944 and 1945. At that
\ntime many respectable \u201cliberal\u201d organizations told us not to get involved in
\nthese projects. We ignored them and went ahead. We did so not because we\u2019re a
\n\u201cliberal\u201d organization but because we\u2019re a Jewish one.\u201d – Shad Polier<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/9e05cd2983afb5c287cefdfb7a2b7b42\/tumblr_inline_otpm6oZqK01r0yq0k_540.png\")
<\/figure>\n
\n(American Jewish Historical Society, American Jewish Congress records, undated, 1916-2006, Call #I-77, Box 740, Folder 33)<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n
\nwas deeply aware of the systemic racism and resulting violence surrounding him
\nin his hometown, leading him to nurture his desire to someday facilitate reform
\nof “ not only that, but other unfair things”[1]<\/a>.
\nMr. Polier took this drive to become one of the most well-known Jewish social
\njustice lawyers of the 20th century. He was in conversation with some of the
\nmost influential thinkers and politicians of his day, including Dr. Martin
\nLuther King Jr., First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Roy Wilkins, Thurgood Marshall,
\nHubert Humphrey, John Haynes Holmes, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and Adlai E.
\nStevenson. A student at the University of South Caroline, Shad Polier was
\nhorrified by the brutal racism he witnessed around him as he later recalled
\n\u201cYet by the time I’d finished at the University of South: Carolina, there had
\nbeen three separate lynchings in Aiken\u201d[2]<\/a>. \u00a0After graduating from college, Polier received
\nadmission into Harvard Law School in 1929 and received a Masters degree by
\n1931. <\/p>\n
\nsector in New York, Polier\u2019s career for the most part revolved around social
\njustice law and civil rights reform. Just two years after his matriculation
\nthat country was consumed by the famous Scottsboro trial
\nand the debates raging around it. Soon after this Polier became an active
\nmember of the NAACP, serving on its legal and education defense fund. By 1945,
\nhe became keenly involved in the work of the American Jewish Congress under the
\nleadership of his father in law, Stephen Wise. \u00a0As a part of the AJC, Polier went on to found
\nand chair of the commission on Law and Social Action of the AJC, which launched
\nlegal battles against anti-Semitism, segregation and racism. A contributor to
\nthe AJC\u2019s weekly on civil liberties, Polier helped pass the first statewide
\nFair Education Practices Law in 1947 prohibiting discrimination in college
\nadmissions based on race or religion.<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/78.media.tumblr.com\/a07b9b9133af38c44960ded46823eff8\/tumblr_inline_otpm4sZlr81r0yq0k_540.png\")
<\/figure>\n
\nPolier at National Convention <\/i>
\n(American Jewish Historical Society, American Jewish Congress records, undated, 1916-2006, Call #I-77, Box 745, Folder 21)<\/i><\/p>\n
\nAmerican Jewish Historical Society\u2019s archives containing Mr. Polier \u2018s papers
\noffer a wealth of resources on the fight for civil liberties as well as a
\nwindow into the tumultuous relationship between the Black American and Jewish
\nAmerican communities in the early 20th<\/sup> century. In a comprehensive
\nessay for an undated issue of the Office of Jewish Information (AJC) News
\nRelease entitled \u2018The Jew and the racial crisis\u2019[1]<\/a>,
\nPolier explored the need for Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights movement,
\nas \u201cnot a negro struggle, but an American struggle–the struggle for human
\nequality and human dignity\u201d. He expounds on the issue of school desegregation
\nand states \u201cWe Jews believe that there is room in America to provide a full
\neconomic life for everyone\u201d and criticizes the standpoint that de-segregation
\nwill lead to the influx of slum communities into urban areas. He argues that Jews
\nas a part of the white community have fallen trap to this perception, despite
\nbeing separate from the white community in that they value and remember the
\nhistory of their oppression. <\/p>\n
\npapers contain evidence of not only the AJC\u2019s commitment to the cause of Civil
\nRights, they also reveal the opposition to the AJC\u2019s focus on Civil Rights from
\nwithin the Jewish community itself. In a newspaper article from May 14th<\/sup>
\n1960, reporter George S Schuyler reported on this alleged internal conflict,
\nheadlined \u201cJews Deny \u2018Heated\u2019 Feud over Negro Rights Issue\u201d[2]<\/a>.
\nThe article cites alleged internal opposition to the organization\u2019s emphasis on
\nthe Civil Rights movement, with other Jewish American organizations threatening
\nto withdraw support if the Civil Rights movement remained a priority. An
\narticle by Gershom Jacobson from the National Jewish Post on April 20th<\/sup>
\nof the same year asks \u201cShould the congress give priority to a full Jewish
\nprogram or should priority be given to civil liberties and Negro rights?\u201d[3]<\/a>. <\/p>\n
\nand his colleagues at the AJC responded to these challenges by asserting that
\nthe best way to ensure equal rights, safety and opportunity for Jews in America
\nis to correct the undemocratic nature of racist discriminatory legislation, a
\ngoal that therefore aligned the AJC\u2019s mission with that of the NAACP and the
\nleaders of the Civil Rights movement. In 1966, Polier joined Cleveland Robinson
\n(Secretary treasurer of District 65 of the Retail, Wholesale and Department
\nstore union) and Samuel Hendel (Prof. of Political Science at City College) at
\na Symposium on Negro-Jewish Tensions[4]<\/a>.
\nThe transcript of Polier\u2019s speech at the event preserved in his papers is most
\nrevealing of the crisis in Jewish support for Civil Rights at the time.<\/p>\n
\nInformation News Release, American Jewish Congress, Shad Polier Papers Box 7,
\nFolder 4<\/p>\n
\nMay 14th 1960, George S Schuyler, Shad Polier Papers Box 7 Folder 4<\/p>\n
\nJacobson, Shad Polier Papers, Box 7 Folder 4<\/p>\n
\nApril 7th 1966 in the Stephen Wise Congress House (Shad Polier, Cleveland
\nRobinson, Samuel Hendel), Shad Polier Papers Box 7 Folder 4 <\/p>\n