The first conference of the All America organization, a movement founded in Philadelphia in May, 1929, by B. Rivkin, a Yiddish newspaperman, will be held Thursday, May 8, at the Civic Club, 18 East 10th Street, with Professor John Dewey as chairman, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learns. The All American movement as created by Mr. Rivkin aims to create cultural cooperation between the various national minorities in the United States together with Americans.
Among those who have endorsed the movement are W#aldo Frank, Lewis Mumford, Dean Everett Martin, Dr. Horace Kallen, James Rorty, Max Eastman, Mark Van Doren, David Pinski, Peter Wiernik, and Hillel Rogoff. Richard Aldridge, the poet, was chairman of the meeting that met in Philadelphia last May.
The conference will discuss and work out a formula for cooperation between minority groups and Americans, lay plans for a magazine to mirror the aims of the movement and issue a statement #o the public. Among those to whom ##e idea appeals most, according to Mr. Rivkin, are old stock Americans who see in it a form of America ###zation. Its purpose, Mr. Rivkin points out, is not self-defense for any group but rather a federation of all groups seeking the synthesis of American culture.
The idea of the All-America movement originated with Mr. Rivkin, who is styled a “dreamer of the ghetto” because he feels that religion is on the wane, Yiddish is in danger of disappearing and assimilation is gradually annihilating the spiritual life of the Jews in America. In an endeavor to prevent the deterioration of the cultural life of the Jews and other minority groups in America Mr. Rivkin conceived the All-America movement.
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.
