Einstein on Race Prejudice

Race prejudice has unfortunately become an American tradition which is uncritically handed down from one generation to the next...the only remedies are enlightenment and education. This is a slow and painstaking process in which all right-thinking people should take part.

from a 1948 interview with the Cheyney Record as cited in Einstein on Race and Racism by Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor

Einstein took every opportunity to stand up for what he thought was right. In 1937, he stepped in when African-American opera star Marian Anderson was refused a room at Princeton's Nassau Inn. He invited her to stay at his home, which she did. From then on, she stayed with him whenever she visited Princeton.

from Albert Einstein: The Miracle Mind by Tabatha Yeatts

When singer Paul Robeson sent Einstein a telegram in September (1946) proposing the creation of "the American Crusade to End Lynching" (ACEL), Einstein supported him...he did send a letter to President Harry Truman, asking him to draft an anti-lynching law. The ACEL bill was turned down, but in the process, the FBI submitted a twelve-page report on Einstein because of his association with Robeson...

from Albert Einstein: The Miracle Mind by Tabatha Yeatts