Jack Salzman, Cornel West Struggles in the Promised

Long-Distance Runners of the Civil Rights Movement \\ 129
a Black janitor of the rape and murder of a young white girl in his employ. Efforts
to appeal the conviction failed repeatedly. In 1915, following the commutation of
the sentence to life imprisonment, Frank was lynched by an angry white mob. 19
It did not require much of a stretch to make the connection between religiously
based and racially based prejudice and discrimination, nor to see that
securing the rights of one group would redound to the advantage of the other. The
New York Age captured the point precisely when it called for a close alliance
between Blacks and Jews in the hope that "the latter in fighting for his own rights
will in some degree fight for ours also." The advantage of the alliance worked the
other way as well: in fighting for the rights of Blacks, Jews could not help but
contribute to ensuring their own. 20
Those compatible interests help to explain the motivations of the Jews who
devoted their energies to the work of the NAACP. For those who involved themselves
in the National Urban League, the connections were of a different kind. The
work of the Urban League focused primarily on finding jobs and providing social
services for Blacks who were new to the cities. It offered travelers' aid at docks and
railroad stations, temporary shelters for migrant women, and information about
low-cost housing; it sponsored big brother and big sister programs, boys' and
girls' clubs, and recreational programs for children and adults; it counseled families
new to the city on the most elementary matters of behavior, dress, sanitation,
health, and homemaking. These were the same kinds of services that German
Jews were providing for Eastern European Jews through immigrant aid societies
and settlement houses. 21
Not only was the social service work of the Urban League familiar to the Jews
who funded and worked for those agencies, but it was powered by the same objective.
The Urban League worked to socialize Black migrants from the South in the
ways of the city, to mold their behavior in its own middle-class image. The
instruction began at the most rudimentary level: "Use the toothbrush, the hairbrush
and comb, and soap and water freely"; "DON'T carry on loud conversations
or use vulgar or obscene language in street cars, streets, or in public places"; "Get
a job, get there on time, be regular, master it, dignify it." 22 a Black janitor of the rape and murder of a young white girl in his employ. Efforts
to appeal the conviction failed repeatedly. In 1915, following the commutation of
the sentence to life imprisonment, Frank was lynched by an angry white mob.
The rudiments of a
well-ordered urban life—-proper housekeeping, cleanliness, deportment, punctuality,
efficiency, good citizenship—were precisely what German Jews were trying
to teach Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Both efforts involved socializing
people new to the cities, people whose alien ways threatened to disrupt the established
social and economic order. Both were vehicles through which German Jews
could seek to impose some control on the rapidly changing urban environment.
19
It did not require much of a stretch to make the connection between religiously
based and racially based prejudice and discrimination, nor to see that
securing the rights of one group would redound to the advantage of the other. The
New York Age captured the point precisely when it called for a close alliance
between Blacks and Jews in the hope that "the latter in fighting for his own rights
will in some degree fight for ours also." The advantage of the alliance worked the
other way as well: in fighting for the rights of Blacks, Jews could not help but
contribute to ensuring their own. 20
Those compatible interests help to explain the motivations of the Jews who
devoted their energies to the work of the NAACP. For those who involved themselves
in the National Urban League, the connections were of a different kind. The
work of the Urban League focused primarily on finding jobs and providing social
services for Blacks who were new to the cities. It offered travelers' aid at docks and
railroad stations, temporary shelters for migrant women, and information about
low-cost housing; it sponsored big brother and big sister programs, boys' and
girls' clubs, and recreational programs for children and adults; it counseled families
new to the city on the most elementary matters of behavior, dress, sanitation,
health, and homemaking. These were the same kinds of services that German
Jews were providing for Eastern European Jews through immigrant aid societies
and settlement houses. 21
Not only was the social service work of the Urban League familiar to the Jews
who funded and worked for those agencies, but it was powered by the same objective.
The Urban League worked to socialize Black migrants from the South in the
ways of the city, to mold their behavior in its own middle-class image. The
instruction began at the most rudimentary level: "Use the toothbrush, the hairbrush
and comb, and soap and water freely"; "DON'T carry on loud conversations
or use vulgar or obscene language in street cars, streets, or in public places"; "Get
a job, get there on time, be regular, master it, dignify it." 22 The rudiments of a
well-ordered urban life—-proper housekeeping, cleanliness, deportment, punctuality,
efficiency, good citizenship—were precisely what German Jews were trying
to teach Eastern European Jewish immigrants. Both efforts involved socializing
people new to the cities, people whose alien ways threatened to disrupt the established
social and economic order. Both were vehicles through which German Jews
could seek to impose some control on the rapidly changing urban environment.
II
The participation participation of of Jews in the NAACP and the National National Urban League came
chiefly chiefly in the areas areas of governance and financial support; support; in the case of the NAACP,
as has been noted previously, Jews also played a major major role in in shaping its legal