Who We Are

In 1982, a group of concerned citizens from Atlanta's Black and Jewish communities came together to campaign for the renewal of the Voting Rights Act.  The drive to renew one of the most important pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history reinvigorated the bond between the two communities.  Those involved decided to create a coalition to ensure that open dialogue and partnership between Blacks and Jews would continue in Atlanta.

Today, the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition has emerged as a central platform for Education, Outreach and Advocacy.  As participation reaches new heights, the Coalition continues to build on its original mission by providing a forum for meaningful dialogue and action.

Mission Statement

• Increase the understanding of and interaction between Jews and Blacks
• Respond on an ad-hoc basis with a definitive action to particular issues of concern to the Jewish and Black communities
• Provide a mechanism whereby each community can express its support for the critical issues of the other community
• Create public awareness for the work of the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition

To get involved with Atlanta's Black-Jewish Coalition, please contact Itai Tsur

The Rabin-King Initiative at Morehouse College

“We must think differently, look at things a different way.  Peace requires a world of new concepts, new definitions.” – Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin

About The Rabin-King Initiative at Morehouse College
The Rabin-King Initiative is a cooperative effort by the Consulate General of Israel to the Southeast, the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, the Temple and the Atlanta chapter of the American Jewish Committee. Our aim is to celebrate the rich history of African American and Jewish collaborations and encourage
a new generation in combined service through a series of events and academic programs that draw upon the legacies of Nobel Prize laureates Yitzhak Rabin, former Prime Minister of Israel, and Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and civil rights activist.

Launched amid the momentum created by the election of President Barack Obama - who delivered his groundbreaking speech at the Democratic National Convention exactly 45 years to the day after King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 - the Rabin-King Initiative offers new avenues of cooperation for today’s students and faculty through interdisciplinary approaches to the history of the struggle for freedom and justice.

A Bold Vision
The Rabin-King Initiative at Morehouse College seeks to:
• Bolster the Morehouse curriculum on African American-Jewish relations by initiating a course on the “Roots of Religion and the Black Experience;”
• Establish a bi-directional exchange program with the University of Haifa in Israel for students and faculty;
• Sponsor collaborative community service projects with Jewish and African American  students;
• Develop an oral history project of black and Jewish student civil rights activist leaders, such as the Freedom Riders, of the sixties:
• Commission a series of oil portraits to commemorate the lives and contributions of Jewish leaders in civil and human rights; and
• Establish an endowed Rabin-King professorship as part of the Marin Luther King Jr. International Chapel.

A Fresh Start
African American-Jewish collaboration and activism, from the early years of the NAACP to the nonviolent 1960s movements of CORE and SNCC and the Freedom Riders, left an indelible legacy. But it was not until 1989, that new life was breathed into this historic partnership of humanitarian effort when “The Black-Jewish Alliance: Reunion and Renewal,” organized by the Marjorie Kovler Institute for Black Jewish Relations, the Marin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and the Carter Presidential Center, was held in Atlanta.

Today, in a time of parallel challenges, the spirit of cooperation has never been more of an imperative. The Rabin-King Initiative seeks to take the next step in the collaborative journey toward establishing world peace and reconciliation.

To View a Press Release about the Opening Event