Despite protests from different communities in the United States and occurring at different times, the Jewish community’s protest against the Gray’s plan and the Harlem 9 fight are both protest against the school segregation that children’s of both community groups have to experience, and how the community, especially the mothers, have to fight against the discrimination of their children.
I believe that the Jewish response to the Gray’s plan which was initiated in 1914 was overall more organized and prepared because the Jewish community had experienced discrimination in the past in their long history in Europe so they were more familiar with how to protest effectively against institutions. Also, the Jewish community had more resources and prominent leaders that effectively organized community events and organizations to combat the “harmful” effects of the Gray Plan on their children.
The media actively tried to use all its resources to support the Gray Plan and Barrow launched a full-blown media campaign for the Plan by convincing progressive journals to write positive editorials about the Gray’s plan. In addition, local media about did not seek a stance against the Gray plan with some newspapers reporting positively about the plan, while others simply ignored protests and activism against the plan to keep the negative opinions about the Gray’s plan from spreading.
Despite the media campaign, the Jewish community rallied together against the Gray’s Plan which they viewed as “an economy scheme that turned their children into “cogs” through assimilatory and vocational curriculum that hindered academic success”. The Jewish parents were right and the Gray Plan tried to assimilate the Jewish students into the larger school system by hindering them from activities that promoted their Jewish cultural activities such as attending Hebrew school, and participating in clubs and sports and instead infringing on their religion, overcrowded students at schools, created longer and more militarized school day, and provided inadequate teaching experiences in the classroom for the Jewish students in Gray schools
The Jewish community rallied against this plan with established Jewish organizations such as the Kebillah, the Flatbush Taxpayers Association, and prominent Jewish leaders such as Gregory Weinstein, Max Wolff, Louis H. Pink actively opposing the plan. Mothers rallied together by creating community organizations and Parents Associations where they gathered, in hundreds, to debate in about the plan, and create resolutions for better schools for their children.
Despite the protests, the board responded negatively by either ignoring the protests or denying any meetings that would substantiate any conversations about the change. In fact, Barrow, created the Gray School league with women class women to support the Gray Plan with propaganda measures. In the end, the Jewish community realized that to get rid of the Gray plan they will have to get rid of the institution that supported and promoted it. In November 1917, Mitchell, who supported the Gray Plan, was voted out of the office in favor of Hylan who publicly announced his denouncement for the Gray Plan. The Jewish successful protest against the Gray Plan showed their successful understanding of the situation in school, their role in society, and realization of how they could use their position to rally together and fight for their causes.
Similarly, the Harlem 9 fought the unequal school system in Harlem just a few decades later. Despite the difference in racial background, time periods, and cultural background the similarities between the fight of the Jewish Community against the Gray plan and the Harlem 9 fight against “hyper-segregated, overcrowded, physically dangerous schools” show that the community rallied together in similar manner to fight against the inequality that they felt their children faced. The Harlem 9 mothers gathered because they felt their children’s school which had racial composition, 99 percent “Negro,” and warranted a “most difficult” classification from the Board’s Bureau of Education and Vocational Guidance discriminated black children and intentionally segregated them from the better, and more well-funded majority white schools. Like the Jewish community, the board of education made it difficult for the black community to voice their complaints about the schools disregarded recommendations that the parents emotionally called for.
Despite the lack of action by the board, the black mother united, like the Jewish mothers a few decades ago, by creating the Parents in Action Against Educational Discrimination (PAAED) and meeting in street corners, organizing petitions, organizing the advertisements of their meetings, and even broadcasting their meeting on local radio stations for those who could not attend. Uniquely, the Harlem 9 mother filed court cases against the board which may have been inspired by the Civil rights movement going on in the rest of the Country that had garnered some degree of success in school districts around the country. The Harlem 9 fight took longer to conclude and I believe it might have taken longer because it tied socially to the larger Civil rights movement that was going on in the country. Despite their difference, the Jewish mothers and African mothers fought similar battles for their children’s education and social identity in a society that placed them at the lowest rungs of the social ladder.
I agree that both the Jews’ response to the Gary Plan and the Harlem 9’s response to segregation, were movements against discrimination of students from their communities. You addressed many differences between these movements. However, there are a few important differences that you fail to mention. For one thing, each movement had different goals in mind. The Jewish community wanted their children to have more opportunities to learn quality information, rather than being forced to receive a vocational education (38). In comparison, the Harlem 9 wanted zoning changes that would facilitate integration and allow their children to be bused to better schools with more resources (58). Furthermore, I do not believe that the Jewish community was better equipped to solve its issues than the African American community was. Whether or not the Jews had more resources is questionable. But it was easier for them to leave their homes and find a place where their children could get a better education. In contrast, this was not an option for the Harlem 9, since blacks were often turned away from buying homes in white suburban neighborhoods due to their skin color, whereas Jews could more easily blend in with an all-white neighborhood.
In addition, I found it interesting how you mentioned that the media, which was pro-Garry Plan, had such a large impact on the Jews’ movement. The reading stated, “…Barrows launched a full-blown media campaign for the Gary Plan. She convinced progressive journalists… to publish positive editorials of the educational and economic benefits of the plan for immigrant children and enlisted muckraking journalist Rheta Childe Dorr of the New York Mail to publish a regular column” (Weiner 36). Even though this happened in the early 1900s, it resembles present-day concerns about the validity of today’s news. Recently, especially as a result of the Trump administration, the media, has come under intense scrutiny about its biased and often exaggerated news stories. Thus, I find it fascinating to know that public media has had a large impact on policy for quite some time. Furthermore, I believe that the Jewish community’s repeated protests against the media’s reporting of the Gary Plan played a sizable role in the success of their campaign against the Board of Education.
I agree that both the Jews’ response to the Gary Plan and the Harlem 9’s response to segregation, were movements against discrimination of students from their communities. You addressed many differences between these movements. However, there are a few important differences that you fail to mention. For one thing, each movement had different goals in mind. The Jewish community wanted their children to have more opportunities to learn quality information, rather than being forced to receive a vocational education (38). In comparison, the Harlem 9 wanted zoning changes that would facilitate integration and allow their children to be bused to better schools with more resources (58). Furthermore, I do not believe that the Jewish community was better equipped to solve its issues than the African American community was. Whether or not the Jews had more resources is questionable. But it was easier for them to leave their homes and find a place where their children could get a better education. In contrast, this was not an option for the Harlem 9, since blacks were often turned away from buying homes in white suburban neighborhoods due to their skin color, whereas Jews could more easily blend in with an all-white neighborhood.
In addition, I found it interesting how you mentioned that the media, which was pro-Gary Plan, had such a large impact on the Jews’ movement. The reading stated, “…Barrows launched a full-blown media campaign for the Gary Plan. She convinced progressive journalists… to publish positive editorials of the educational and economic benefits of the plan for immigrant children and enlisted muckraking journalist Rheta Childe Dorr of the New York Mail to publish a regular column” (Weiner 36). Even though this happened in the early 1900s, it resembles present-day concerns about the validity of today’s news. Recently, especially as a result of the Trump administration, the media, has come under intense scrutiny about its biased and often exaggerated news stories. Thus, I find it fascinating to know that public media has had a large impact on policy for quite some time. Furthermore, I believe that the Jewish community’s repeated protests against the media’s reporting of the Gary Plan played a sizable role in the success of their campaign against the Board of Education.
Thanks for both of these comments. I agree with Ann Marie that it is not clear that the Jewish community fighting the Gary plan in the early 1900s had more resources or were better organized than the Black mothers fighting for desegregation (and resources) in the 1950s. And in fact because the Harlem 9 were connected to a larger and national Civil Rights movement one could argue that they had better connections (and perhaps even more sympathetic media). Ann Marie makes the crucial point that the Jewish families in the lower East Side and elsewhere were ultimately able to move away, while the Black families in Harlem had more limited options. Another crucial difference is that the Jewish families were not fighting segregation per se, but the specific reforms brought to their schools. This is in part because they were not segregated in the way that African Americans were, and in part because were fighting a reform that seemed to change the purpose of schooling for their children – not a general lack of resources.
Thank you for both of your insights. After discussing the prompt in class, I gained a better understanding of the movement about both the Gary Plan and the Harlem 9 and think my discussing it in class and analyzing it, I was able to better understand the movement. Professor Kafka, I did not even think about the Harlem 9 movement being connected to the whole civil rights movement in my analysis until you brought it up and now I find myself changing my perspective of the situation because of both of your insights
Thanks for this reflection, Kash. For some reason your comment was waiting to be approved so I missed it earlier. I will try to find out why that is happening.