The Freedom Seder, 1969

The Freedom Seder, 1969

Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections

2015

Moshe Kornfield, Scott Meyer, Elias Sacks, Stephanie Yuhas, Andrew Violet, Jane Thaler

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English

Rev. Channing Phillips Arthur Waskow Topper Carew Together, participants hoped to commemorate King's legacy, cultivate solidarity among Jewish and African-American participants, and lay the groundwork for further, religiously-inspired activism—all the while exploring the political possibilities implicit in the Jewish religious tradition. On April 4th, 1969, on the first anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (which was also the third night of Passover), Jewish and African-American activists came together in Washington, D.C., for a reimagined, interfaith version of the seder. Written by a secular Jewish activist named Arthur Waskow and organized by Jews for Urban Justice (a recently formed progressive Jewish group), the event was held in the basement of the oldest African-American church in Washington and brought together 800 participants from different religious and ethnic groups for an evening blending traditional seder rituals, lively singing, and vigorous discussion and debate surrounding topics including religion, politics, violence, and liberation. Lincoln Congregational Temple