NAACP
EXCLUDES WHITE JEWISH FOUNDER FROM THEIR WEBSITE
EXCLUSIVE
OP/ED
by
Shelomo Alfassa
New
York, NY (July 19, 2010) It is a sad state of affairs
that Henry Moskowitz, Ph.D., one of the original co-founders
of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), has been excluded from the
list of prominent "People" under the History
heading of the new NAACP Website.
Of all the founders of the NAACP, it is only Dr. Moskowitz
(1879-1936) which is missing, leaving a gaping hole
in the history of the organization.
Dr.
Henry Moskowitz was a Romanian-born Jew that was involved
with social work in New York City during the early 20th
century. He was active in city politics under the administration
of New York City Mayor John Purroy Mitchel; and he was
the Associate Leader of the New York Society for Ethical
Culture which often looked out for the rights of new
immigrants on New York City's Lower East Side. He is
credited as being one of the original founders of the
NAACP which was created in a tiny New York apartment
on February 12, 1909.
Dr.
Henry Moskowitz, between 1920-1936. Photograph: Library
of Congress
While
Dr. Moskowitz' name is fleetingly mentioned in small
print on a non-primary page of the NAACP Website, it
is a sad commentary that the organization has not added
him, his background information, his photo, and his
name to the list of prominent people in their encyclopedic
alphabetical index, which includes past and present
NAACP leaders. Of all the NAACP founders, only Dr. Moskowitz,
one of the original eight, has been marginalized from
the history portion of the official NAACP Website.
Further,
and even more interesting to note, is that other early
NAACP supporters and founders included: Lillian Wald,
Rabbi Emil G. Hirsh, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, all
of them are missing from the NAACP Website where past
leaders and prominent persons are listed. Who is listed?
People such as such as Harry Belafonte, Rodney King,
Oprah Winfrey and President Obama are included.
"A
handful of Blacks and Whites--including Mary White Ovington,
W.E.B. DuBois,
Mary Church Terrell, Henry Moskowitz and William
English--founded the NAACP."
-- Ebony Magazine July 1989 p.126
