You probably think of Albert Einstein as a genius in the world of science and mathematics. His theory of relativity is still a cornerstone of modern physics, and his E=mc2 helped to create the world’s nuclear weapons.
But you might not know that Einstein was also a strong civil rights activist.
Einstein understood the power of prejudice. He was Jewish and living in Germany as Hitler rose to power. Einstein because an outspoken critic of the Nazi party and major newspapers published articles attacking him for his beliefs. He appeared on a pamphlet list as an enemy of Nazi Germany, in fact, a caption appeared below a picture of him that read, “not yet hanged.”
The harassment continued until he felt he needed to move to America. He stated, “I shall live in a land where political freedom, tolerance, and equality of all citizens reign.”
But Einstein likely saw that the United States did not live up to the promise of equality. It was deeply segregated and Jim Crow laws restricted the rights of black Americans. Einstein worked at Princeton, a university that would not admit black students at that time.
Over the next decades, Einstein would become a strong defender of both the civil rights movement and the people who made it move forward.
Marian Anderson was a black opera star who was denied a hotel room, so Einstein opened his home to her. He worked with the American Crusade Against Lynching and he publicly encouraged the NAACP and W.E B.
Einstein wrote in Pageant Magazine in 1946, “Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man’s quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition.”
He was not just a great mind, he was a great man.
