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The story of a group of Jewish women who risked their bodies to fight racism
Many people today know that the 1964 murder in Mississippi of two Jewish men—Mickey Schwerner and Andrew Goodman—and their Black colleague, James Chaney, marked one of the most wrenching episodes of the civil rights movement. Yet very few realize that Andrew Goodman had been in Mississippi for one day when he was killed; Rita Schwerner, Mickey's wife, had been organizing in Mississippi for six difficult months.
Organized around a rich blend of oral histories, Going South followsa group of Jewish women—come of age in the shadow of the Holocaust and deeply committed to social justice—who put their bodies and lives on the line to fight racism. Actively rejecting the post-war idyll of suburban, Jewish, middle-class life, these women were deeply influenced by Jewish notions of morality and social justice. Many thus perceived the call of the movement as positively irresistible.
Representing a link between the sensibilities of the early civil rights era and contemporary efforts to move beyond the limits of identity politics, the book provides a resource for all who are interested in anti-racism, the civil rights movement, social justice, Jewish activism and radical women's traditions.
— Joyce Antler,author of The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America
"More than an account of the Jewish women who went South to help in the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties, Debra Schultz has produced a fascinating investigation into the relationship between these women and their parents, their black colleagues in the movement, the Jewish communities in the Southern states, and their final difficult decision to leave the movement. Going South should be read by everyone interested in this vitally important period of American history."
— Helen Suzman,former Member of South African Parliament
"Only recently are scholars beginning to pay full attention to the key role women played during the Civil Rights Movement. Going South is an important portrait of an often overlooked group whose workboth behind the scenes and on the front lineshelped transform our nation."
— Marian Wright Edelman,President, Children's Defense Fund
"These oral histories are compelling and fascinating, and reclaim a history previously unavailable to us. An original and important contribution."
— Deborah Dash Moore,coeditor of Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia
"A fascinating text which adds to our understanding of recent Jewish Left and feminist politics and activism."