Einstein, who was Jewish, was sensitized to racism by the years of Nazi-inspired threats and harassment he suffered during his tenure at the University of Berlin. Einstein was in the United States when the Nazis came to power in 1933, and, fearful that a return to Germany would place him in mortal danger, he decided to stay, accepting a position at the recently founded Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.
Einstein realized that African Americans in Princeton were treated similar to Jews in Germany and sympathized with them.
Lincoln University awarded Einstein an honorary degree.
“There is a somber point in the social outlook of Americans,” he wrote. “Their sense of quality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of white skin. Even among these, there are prejudices of which I as a Jew am clearly conscious. But they are unimportant in comparison with the attitude of whites toward their fellow citizens of darker complexion, particularly toward Negroes. The more I feel an American, the more this situation pains me. I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out.”
Source. His ardent endeavours to combat racism within the United States are unfortunately often overlooked in favour of his achievements within physics, but no less worth remembering him for.
This experience of American apartheid really influenced Einstein's later views,he said "I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime."
TooShiftyForYou on March 1st, 2021 at 14:16 UTC »
Einstein, who was Jewish, was sensitized to racism by the years of Nazi-inspired threats and harassment he suffered during his tenure at the University of Berlin. Einstein was in the United States when the Nazis came to power in 1933, and, fearful that a return to Germany would place him in mortal danger, he decided to stay, accepting a position at the recently founded Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J.
Einstein realized that African Americans in Princeton were treated similar to Jews in Germany and sympathized with them.
Lincoln University awarded Einstein an honorary degree.
ToesOverHoes on March 1st, 2021 at 14:17 UTC »
Source. His ardent endeavours to combat racism within the United States are unfortunately often overlooked in favour of his achievements within physics, but no less worth remembering him for.
Wsda10 on March 1st, 2021 at 14:44 UTC »
This experience of American apartheid really influenced Einstein's later views,he said "I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country. I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime."