In January 1963, with the struggle for Black civil rights in full upswing, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel delivered a groundbreaking address to the first ever National Conference on Religion and Race in Chicago.
It was a tense and tumultuous moment in American history: Debate raged over school integration, segregated public buses, and voting rights for African Americans. Heschel’s talk followed that of a young pastor from Georgia named Martin Luther King Jr., who had increasingly become the most recognized spokesperson for equality—propelled by his charismatic speaking style, his commitment to nonviolent protest, and his powerful, faith-based rhetoric. Yet King’s brand of activism was not universally applauded in the religious community. The civil rights leader and his concerns were seen by some Jews and Christians as too radical, and by others as outside the purview of religious life entirely.
