Robert E. Segal

Robert Ephraim Segal^[1][2] (December 11, 1903 – November 18, 1995) was the longtime executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Boston^[3] and an activist against discrimination and for human rights.

Career and activism

Segal spent much of his life dealing with fair practices regarding race, religion, education, labor and housing.^[4]

Beginning in 1940, Segal was a consultant on human relations and lectured and wrote on the field. He also served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Boston University Human Relations Center and a member of the Executive Board of the Boston Mayor's Committee.^[3] As a close correspondent with Archbishop Richard Cushing, Segal played a key role in Jewish-Catholic relations in Boston.^[5]

Segal was a long-time columnist for the World News Service/Seven Arts Feature Syndicate.^[6] He had a column entitled "As We Were Saying"; he wrote on issues such as bigotry,^[7] Israel and the Arabs, ex-Nazis, neo-Nazism and its backers,^[8] and the civil rights movement.^[9]

Segal was a leader of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Boston^[10][11] and was its executive director from 1943 to 1972,^{[12][13] [14][15]} a period that included the Council presidency of David A. Rose.^{[16][17][18][19][2]} In 1954 Segal explained to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary's Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency that the Council was established in part due to juvenile delinquency and anti-Jewish violent acts.^[20]

In 1947, Segal endorsed the Temporary Displaced Persons Admission Act, a federal law to assist displaced persons in post-World War II Europe and permit the admission of 400,000 of them to the U.S.^[21]

Segal's activism against discrimination has been recorded at least since the 1940s.^[22][23] He was involved with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination^[24] and was an activist for fair housing.^[25][26] He was a member of the Newton Fair Housing Federation^[27] and a co-ordinator of the 1962 "Housing For All of Our People" Conference^[28] In 1966, he was vice chairman of the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.^[29] In 1972, advocating for housing for Puerto Ricans, he chaired the same committee and continued in that position for several years.^{[30] [31]}

Segal was executive director of the Aid to the Blind-Jewish Guild, serving the Boston area.^[32][33][4] In 1990, in his 80s, he helped in uplifting the spirits of seniors.^[4]

Personal life and death

His brother was Henry C. Segal (1900-1985), of the American Israelite.^[34][6] His wife, Jane Segal, whom he married in 1932,^[4] died in 2004.^[35]

Robert E. Segal died on November 18, 1995,^[36] in Lexington, Massachusetts.^[37]

References

1. Office, Library of Congress Copyright (1952). Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1951. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. p. 605.
2. Lurie, Walter Albert (1982). Strategies for Survival: Principles of Jewish Community Relations. Ktav Publishing House. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-87068-453-1. ...who have contributed ably to the thinking of the field... professional colleagues from national and local community relations... Robert Ephraim Segal...
3. AJC, 1956, Review of Books
4. "The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts on February 11, 1990 · 229". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03. "Finding 'bliss' in a continuing-care retirement community." Interim council member Robert E. Segal spent his working life dealing with thorny issues and fair practices regarding race, religion, education, labor and housing. Segal - who at various times was a journalist, director of the Jewish Community Council in Boston and director of Boston Aid for the Blind - chose "Brookhaven Rhapsody" for the title of a report on his new environment he was asked to write for a publication of the Boston Society for Gerontologic Psychiatry...
5. "Transcending Boundaries". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
6. "Henry Segal Dead at 84". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1985-07-23. Retrieved 2021-01-10.
7. Jahoda, Marie (2017-07-18). Lebensgeschichtliche Protokolle der arbeitenden Klassen 1850-1930: Dissertation 1932 (in German). StudienVerlag. ISBN 978-3-7065-5881-5.
8. "New Jersey Jewish News - January 4, 1963 — Jewish Historical Society of New Jersey". jhsnj-archives.org. Retrieved 2021-01-01. "Arab Spokesmen Help The Cause of Israel" Hitler's shrill voice has bellowed through Ahmad Shukairy.
9. "New Jersey Jewish News - December 21, 1962 — Jewish Historical Society of New Jersey". jhsnj-archives.org. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
10. Segal, Robert E. (1985). The Early Years of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston. Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
11. Letter to Robert E. Segal of the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Boston concerning the TABS youth conference (Dec. 1954)
12. Library, Boston Public (1943). Statistical Report. The Trustees.
13. "Jewish Post 22 June 1945 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
14. "Jewish Post 7 November 1952 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
15. "Extreme Right-wing Movement Reported Avoiding Anti-semitism". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 1963-01-10. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
16. Adler, Cyrus; Szold, Henrietta (1949). American Jewish Year Book. American Jewish Committee. p. 605.
17. JCRC Boston, 1944-2019, Commamorative Book
18. "Transcending Boundaries". www.bc.edu. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
19. Committee, National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (U S.) Reassessment (1972). The Public Schools and American Democratic Pluralism: The Role of the Jewish Community. Reassessment Committee of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council. p. 2.
20. Delinquency, United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency (1954). Juvenile Delinquency (Boston, Mass.): Hearings Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee To Investigate Juvenile Delinquency in the U.S., Eighty-Third Congress, Second Session, on Jan. 28-30, 1954. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 5.
21. United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization, Eightieth Congress, First Session (1947). Permitting Admission of 400,000 Displaced Persons Into the United States: Hearings on H.R. 2910, a Bill to Authorize the United States During an Emergency Period to Undertake Its Fair Share in the Resettlement of Displaced Persons in Germany, Austria, and Italy ... June 4, 6, 13, 20, 25, 27, and July 2, 9, 16, 18, 1947. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 592.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
22. Discrimination, Massachusetts Commission Against (1947). Report.
23. Discrimination, Massachusetts Commission Against (1950). Annual Report of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The Commission.
24. Annual Report of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination. The Commission. 1961. p. 33.
25. Journal of Housing. Massachusetts has a Citizens' Housing Council. National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. 1948. p. 17.
26. Statistical Report. The Trustees. 1950. p. 45.
27. Woodson, Carter Godwin (1960). Negro History Bulletin. Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. p. 156.
28. "Housing For All of Our People", A Conference Sponsored by Governor John A. Volpe, in co-operation with the Fair Housing Federation of Greater Boston. Tuesday, May 22nd, 1962.
29. Rights, United States Commission on Civil (1967). Hearing [s] Held in Boston, Massachusetts, October 4-5, 1966. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 5.
30. Issues of Concern to Puerto Ricans in Boston and Springfield: A Report of the Massachusetts State Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1972. pp. 10–11.
31. Judiciary, United States Congress House Committee on the (1975). Equal Opportunity in Housing: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Constitutional Rights of ... , 93-2, September 19, 1974. pp. 90, 99.
32. Directory of Agencies Serving the Visually Handicapped in the United States. American Foundation for the Blind. 1973. p. 130. Aid to the Blind, Inc.—Jewish Guild... Robert E. Segal, Executive Director. Est. 1912. Inc. 1945. Serves Greater Boston area.
33. "Proceedings of the Convention of American Association of Workers for the Blind," Volumes 43-45. American Association of Workers for the Blind., 1969, p.109
34. "HENRY C. SEGAL (Published 1985)". The New York Times. 1985-07-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
35. "Jane Segal Obituary (2004) - Boston Globe". www.legacy.com. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
36. "the AJA catalog - View Small Collection Record". prestohost54.inmagic.com. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
37. "Jewish Post 29 November 1995 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program". newspapers.library.in.gov. Retrieved 2021-01-03.