Jewish Americans like Abraham Joshua Heschel. a writer. rabbi and professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America was outspoken on the subject o civil rights and marched arminarm with Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. in Selma. Professor Ernst Borinski. a refugee from the Holocaust who came to America to teach at Taugaloo University. organized dinners at which blacks and whites sat next to each other. a simple act challenging segregation. Joel Elias Spingarn. a JewishAmerican educator and literary critic. was a founder and one of the first Jewish leaders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1913. as the organizations chairman of the board. he established the Spingam medal. awarded annually for outstanding achievement by an African American.