Negro Marchers from Selma Wear Yarmulkes

Dateline: March 22, 1965  – Negro Marchers from Selma Wear Yarmulkes

“Hundreds of Negro freedom marchers today wore yarmulkes (skullcaps), in respectful emulation of rabbis who participated in demonstrations in Alabama as Jewish participation in the march from Selma to Montgomery.” (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The story, which may or may not be apocryphal, is that way before the Selma to Montgomery March, several rabbis had joined a prayer service at a black church.  When asked what the meaning of a yarmulke was, a rabbi explained, “that one’s head must be covered in the presence of the Lord.”  The response to this was, “wherever the freedom movement is, God is to be found there.”

The African-Americans wore them and called them “Freedom Caps.”  The Alabama State Police called them “Yankee Yamakas.”  (The demand was so high that an order of 1,000 skullcaps was wired to New York City to be delivered to Montgomery, in time for the great demonstration at the state capitol.)

There were many Jews from the North who came down for the March. (In fact five rabbis found themselves locked up by the Police in the Selma Jail for Shabbat!)  Among the rabbis who participated in the march was Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel, of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the seminary for Conservative rabbis.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked Dr. Heschel to take a position of honor at the head of the marchers. A famous photograph shows Dr. King and Dr. Heschel marching shoulder to shoulder.

 
One of the northern rabbi’s who participated in the march was my husband’s rabbi from Rhode Island, Rabbi William Braude. He was the spiritual leader of a large Reform Congregation in Providence. In line with Reform practice, yarmulkes were not worn at his shul; not even for those ascending the Bimah. It was considered too “old world.”

Rabbi Braude spoke before his congregation and gave the stirring details of his experiences in Montgomery, including a description of the unifying and symbolic wearing of yarmulkes by Jews and Blacks alike during the march.  What happened next was totally unexpected.  Rabbi Braude took a yarmulke out of his pocket and put it on his head. There was a long silence, then nothing but the sound of people getting up and walking out.  Here and there, in this very large sanctuary, people stood up and left, affronted by the donning of the head covering.

The following Shabbat, boxes of yarmulkes had been placed at the entrance to the sanctuary, for those who wished to wear one. This tradition continues.

Let’s not forget the Selma March, the Jewish college students who flocked to Alabama to register voters, those 1,000 yarmulkes in Montgomery, and the unifying passion of people like Dr. King and Dr. Heschel.  Our histories, and the history of the Civil Rights Movement, are forever intertwined.

Rabbi Rose Lyn Jacob