Download the discussion questions and action items guide here.
Thank you for joining our webinar! (If you missed it, you can listen to a recording of this session on our Youtube channel.) We hope you enjoyed hearing from our guests and learned something you didn’t already know about the history of the civil rights movement, Jewish involvement and what still remains to be done today. We hope you will continue this conversation with your parents, grandparents, children and friends using our discussion questions below:
- March 7th marks the anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, just one critical moment in the long struggle for civil rights. If you were alive then, what are some of your memories from the Civil Rights Movement?
- What are you so passionate about that you would be willing to fight for?
- Share a time you stood up for something you believed in. Was it difficult? What were the risks?
- When was a time that you wish you had stood up for something but didn’t?
- Tonight, you heard examples of times when people have sacrificed their own interests and safety for the well-being of others. Why do you think they were compelled to do this?
- Did you know Jews made up a majority of non-black freedom riders and that a group of Rabbis were arrested with Dr. King in St. Augustine? Why do you think it is that so many Jews were involved in the Civil Rights Movement?
- What evidence do you see in today’s world that the struggle for civil rights has brought positive change?
- What racial or economic injustices do you see in the world today? What can you do? What can your family do? What can your congregation or community do?
- Throughout the Civil Rights Movement people gave their lives so everyone could have the right to vote, yet today we continue to see new and different challenges to equal access to the polls. Why is it important to protect this right?
Tonight you have heard about racial injustices and work that has been done and continues to be done to address them, along with the importance of the right to vote. One thing you can do is urge your Representative to cosponsor the Voting Rights Advancement Act and push for it to get a vote on the floor. Click here to contact your Representative today!
Looking to engage further?
- Go see Selma the movie with your friends and family
- Read John Lewis’ graphic novel trilogy, March, which shares his remarkable story in a unique and compelling format (for all ages)
- Read The Watsons Go To Birmingham, a great book for young people about the Civil Rights era and racial tension at that time (best for elementary and middle school students)
- Check out the Anti-Defamation League’s Selma curriculum for high school students to help bring this important conversation into the classroom
- Sign up for our email list to keep up to date with the RAC's work on civil rights
- Urge your Representatives in Congress to cosponsor the Voting Rights Advancement Act
- Share these commemorative prayers and resources with your rabbi, cantor, or educator
- Contact Eisendrath Legislative Assistant Adam Waters with questions or for more information
