A call for the organization of an American League for the Protection of Human Rights has been issued by Dr. Frederick B. Robinson, President of The City College and Chairman of a Provisional Committee of 27, which has charged itself with this task.
The constituting meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 22nd, at 8:30 p.m. in the Hotel Commodore.
The purposes of the Committee, as formulated after a series of conferences and careful deliberation, President Robinson stated, “is to promote and protect the rights of individuals and groups throughout the world. Essential human rights, in most civilized nations, are guaranteed by constitutions and statutes. Some are even provided for by treaties and the covenant of the League of Nations. Nevertheless, these guarantees are often ineffective. Racial, religious, political and personal prejudices too frequently result in discrimination and even violent persecution of individuals and groups.
“For the victims of such abuses of power,” Dr. Robinson continued to say, “there is hardly any effective remedy save an aroused public opinion both national and international which will impel to action counteracting forces. There are in the United States organizations devoted to the academic study of such problems or to special aspects, such as freedom of worship, freedom of press, and freedom of speech. But there is no organization fully informed concerning current guarantees in various countries, alive to infractions when they occur and capable of arousing effective resistance.”
It is expected that the American association will:—
1. Investigate thoroughly and objectively reports of infractions of the rights of individuals or groups.
2. Engender an enlightened public opinion and bring the pressure of public sentiment to bear for the improvement of such conditions.
3. Endeavor to exercise a wholesome influence on those responsible for such conditions.
4. Arrange meetings and lectures when and as advisable.
5. Make representations to governmental agencies having jurisdiction in such matters.
6. Cooperate with organizations having similar aims.
In these days of world-wide distress, the members of the Committee feel oppressive tendencies will inevitably grow in strength, and that there is, therefore, urgent need for an effort to counteract such forces of oppression.
The Committee of Twenty-seven consists of: Dr. Henry A. Atkinson, General Secretary of the Church Peace Union; Emily Green Balch, President of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom; George Gordon Battle; Hernand Behn, of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co., Simon Bergman, President of Suydenham Hospital; Dr. S. Parkes Cadman; Everett R. Clinchy, Director of the National Conference for Jews and Christians; Bainbridge Colby; Professor John Dewey; B. W. Huebsch, Publisher of the Viking Press; Fannie Hurst; Will Irwin; Jacob Landau, Managing Director of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency; Dr. John Howland Lathrop; President Henry N. MacCracken of Vassar College; David L. Podcll; Judge Joseph M. Proskauer; Victor Ridder, Publisher of the “Staats-Herold”; Professor James T. Shotwell, Director of the Division of Economics and History of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Lawrence A. Steinhardt; Oswald Garrison Villard, publisher of “The Nation”; Senator Robert F. Wagner; Morris D. Waldman; Michael Williams; President Mary E. Woolley of Mount Holyoke; President Frederick B. Robinson of The City College and President of the Provisional Committee, and Mrs. Sarah F. Brandes, Secretary of the Provisional Committee.
The Committee has been endorsed by Judge Benjamin Cardozo, Colonel Edward M. House, Professor Robert Millikan, and Professor Albert Einstein.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
