Mike's Genealogy Site
Naomi Bloom's College Activism
Naomi protesting the Nazi regime in 1938 (click to see the full front page)
My mother, Naomi Bloom, was a human rights activist during her college years (1938-1942). In 1938, she made the front page of the New York University Bulletin, marching for a boycott of Germany following early reports of persecution under the Nazi regime.
Three years later, she and six other classmates led a petition drive to protest the "gentlemen's agreement", under which northern integrated schools (like NYU) agreed to sideline their black athletes when playing the segregated schools in the south.
The issue came to a head when Leonard Bates, a black NYU football player, was benched for an upcoming game against Missouri. Naomi and her colleagues organized the students under the slogan "No Missouri Compromise! Bates must play!".
The seven leaders of the protest (the "Bates Seven") were suspended at the time, although she was later allowed to graduate. Sixty years later, in May of 2001, NYU honored the Bates Seven at an athletic dinner. However, no official apology was offered at the time.
Naomi Rothschild protesting the "gentlemen's agreement" (click to see the full size clipping)
Click here to read the New York Times article about the topic that led to Naomi's picture being once again on the front page.
Click on the "play" buttons below to see TV clips from the local ABC, NBC and CBS channels on the Bates 7 story, as well as a longer segment from ABC and a short documentary on the topic. |
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| ABC News | CBS News |
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| NBC News | ABC long segment |
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| Short Documentary | |