Decter, Moshe

The papers of Bayard Rustin, a prominent American civil rights leader, LGBT rights activist, and advocate for the Black-Jewish cooperation in the United States, that focus on his involvement in the American Soviet Jewry movement. The collection contains speeches and articles on Soviet Jewry by Bayard Rustin from 1960s-1980s. Also included are publications by the executive secretary of the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews, Moshe Decter— Redemption! Jewish freedom letters from Russia with foreword by Rustin, and "Silence and Yearning: A Report and Analysis of the Status of Soviet Jewry" based on the findings of the Ad Hoc Commssion on the Rights of Soviet Jews, chaired by Rustin.

The collection contains papers of one of the pioneers of the American Soviet Jewry Movement. Starting in the early 1960s Moshe Decter instigated broad publicity campaigns to raise global awareness about the persecution of Soviet Jews and authored hundreds of articles on the subject in a variety of publications. Mr. Decter established and directed the Jewish Minorities Research bureau, served as the executive secretary of the Conference on the Status of Soviet Jews and as a director of research at the American Jewish Congress. Moshe Decter Papers consist of materials dating from the late 1950s to the early 2000s, with the bulk of the collection dating in 1960s-1970s. The documents include articles, correspondence, transcripts, notes, memoranda, publications, news clippings, broadsides and photographs.