The Rabbis Go South

In this episode, we share the harrowing moment when 16 Reform rabbis are thrust onto the frontlines of the civil rights movement. Allen Secher and Jerry Goldstein, now in their 80s, tell of “the most frightening night of their lives.” That’s when 16 rabbis including Secher and Goldstein are paired with Black protestors and, holding hands, march through St. Augustine facing hostile segregationists armed with bricks and stones. Will the protestors make it back to the Black church, where they started, unharmed? ---------- CREDITS: The Rabbis Go South was made possible through grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Southern Jewish Historical Society, and generous private donors including Louis Black (founder of South by Southwest) and Joyce Saltman. This podcast is a presentation of Hub & Spoke, a prestigious collective of creator-owned shows.

The rabbis gather at a St. Augustine motor lodge notorious for its segregationist policies. When the rabbis participate in a pray-in with Black clergy, local police move in for an arrest. Simultaneously, a group of Black activists head to the motor lodge swimming pool to attempt to desegregate it. Nationally assigned television crews are on the scene to film these dramatic, chaotic events. Their images of St. Augustine law enforcement brutally manhandling Black and White protestors reverberate across the nation. ---------- CREDITS: The Rabbis Go South was made possible through grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Southern Jewish Historical Society, and generous private donors including Louis Black (founder of South by Southwest) and Joyce Saltman. This podcast is a presentation of Hub & Spoke, a prestigious collective of creator-owned shows.

16 rabbis and one Jewish layperson are arraigned in the county jail by the local KKK leader and then squeezed together in a cell big enough for only two. During an uncomfortable night of imprisonment, the rabbis find an important mission.They write a joint manifesto, “Why We Went,” articulating their philosophical and religious reasons for coming to St. Augustine. Meanwhile, the African-Americans arrested with them are treated by law enforcement in the harshest, cruelest manner. ---------- CREDITS: The Rabbis Go South was made possible through grants from Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the Southern Jewish Historical Society, and generous private donors including Louis Black (founder of South by Southwest) and Joyce Saltman. This podcast is a presentation of Hub & Spoke, a prestigious collective of creator-owned shows.