The Past and the Future Are Branches of the Same Tree

Abraham Joshua Heschel was a civil rights activist as well as a rabbi. When he marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Alabama, Heschel famously said, “I felt my legs were praying.” 

When Carter G. Woodson planted the seed almost 100 years ago for what would become Black History Month, his goals were bigger than simply discussing the events of the past. Only when the African American experience took its rightful place in the annals of American history, not as a footnote or sidebar, could racial equality be possible.

Martin Luther King Jr. made history with his “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on Aug. 28, 1963, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Rabbi Joachim Prinz also spoke that day, telling the crowd that the history of his Jewish ancestors inspired him to fight for justice. Read the story that led up to that famous day in The Rabbi and the Reverend.

In Too Far from Home, Meskerem, who has moved from Ethiopia to Israel, desperately wants to fit in at her new school, but it’s only when she embraces her Ethiopian identity that things begin to fall into place. Her mother tells her, “if you know for sure who you are, nobody can determine that for you.”

Knowing our history makes us stronger, more resilient, and better able to see our shared humanity. America in the 1930s was deeply segregated, but Albert Einstein and the singer Marian Anderson became friends over a shared love of music. Read the story of their friendship in The Singer and the Scientist.

In this world finally coming to celebrate diversity, find more Kar-Ben books featuring diverse characters of a variety of backgrounds and identities at

https://www.karben.com/topics-of-interest.html and https://lernerbooks.com/products/search_results?search%5Bcategories_id_in%5D=3.