Heeding the Call

The struggle for equal rights in America forged a close connection between African Americans and Jews. But in recent years that once amicable relationship has become strained. In Heeding the Call: Jewish Voices in America's Civil Rights Struggle (winner of the National Jewish Book Awards), young people will discover how much the shared history of both groups unites rather than divides them. At the height of the civil rights battles of the 1960s, Jewish students, rabbis, and community leaders headed south as "Freedom Riders," while Jewish religious and communal organizations like the American Hebrew Congregations actively worked on behalf of the civil rights movement. Heeding the Call chronicles the multifaceted role of Jewish Americans in the difficult struggle for civil rights. Their story will inspire the next generation of young Jews and African Americans to renew the legacy of cooperation that once united both groups.