Broward high schoolers learn about intertwined struggles in Jewish and Black history
By Natalie La Roche Pietri
February 25, 2026 at 6:00 AM EST
Deshawn Pink, a sophomore also at Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy in Tamarac, didn't know the scope of the the collaboration between Jewish and Black communities during the Civil Rights Movement of in the '60s to build a more equitable country.
He recently spent a full school -day learning of that alliance at the David Posnack Jewish Cultural Center in Davie, where more than 300 Broward County high schoolers visited for a program dedicated to teaching students how Black and Jewish ow activists came together to advocate for one another during the civil rights movement.
Pink, who is Black, said he didn’t know much of the overlap between Jewish and Black history before watching the 2020 documentary "Shared Legacies" at the start of the program., highlighting the historic Black and Jewish civil rights alliance.
After watching the film, he saw its relevance today.
"Through the documentary I got more insight of just how impactful rabbis and everything were on the cCivil rRights movement," Pink told WLRN. "Recently — way more recently — I’ve been seeing a lot more hate on Israel and on Jewish people. It made me feel like we forgot the message, especially with Black history month now and how much they helped us, I feel like it’s really important we give back and we help them."
This year marks the 50 years since Congress recognized Black History Month, but the commemoration of Black hHistory started in 1926 — 100 years ago — as a week-long commitment.
Ten Broward County public high schools participated in the event in early February: Atlantic Vocational College, Blanche Ely High, Boyd Anderson High, Cypress Run Alternative Center, Flanagan High, Henry D. Perry High, Hollywood Hills High, Millennium Academy, Monarch High and Stranahan High.
The Shared Legacies documentary covers slavery and the Holocaust, the long-lasting and painful consequences of racism and antisemitism in the U.S. and intertwined struggle.
In 1958, white supremacists and anti-Semitic hate groups bombed Atlanta’s oldest and most prominent synagogue as retaliation for the rabbi's support of racial integration and activism.
In 1963, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, a Jewish leader in Berlin and later also a cCivil rRights activist in the U.S. after fleeing Nazi Germany, was the last speaker at the March on Washington before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have aA Dream" sSpeech."
"Bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problems," Prinz proclaimed in his speech. "The most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence."
READ MORE: Major study finds more than half of Jewish Americans experienced antisemitism in past year
After the movie, students participated in group learning activities, like comparing Jim Crow laws in segregated U.S. to the Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany.
The discussion that followed was mediated by Brian Knowles, education director at Spill the Honey, an organization that uses art to inspire social change and teach of the intertwined Black and Jewish histories.
" When one group suffers, and eventually it can morph into a bigger issue," Knowles, who creates the curriculum, told WLRN. He wanted students to absorb the message that "because you are not a target... you can't be a bystander."
In other words, history teaches that you have to stand up for your peers, even when you're not the victim.
"I just really wanted to just kind of zoom in on just coalition- building and how us as a community have to get beyond our differences because we have more similarities than anything else."
Nessa Schorr and Deshawn Pink, students at Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy, walked away with a deeper understanding of shared histories. (5712x4284, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
That message landed with Nessa Schorr, an 11th grader at Millenium 6-12 Collegiate Academy. She's Jewish.
"Being silent... isn't the solution," was Schorr's main takeaway from the documentary. "Instead we should speak up and really come together as individuals, working as a community to combat hatred, to combat antisemitism and to really make sure that everyone feels equal."
The end of the program wrapped up with a musical activity. One of the center's members strummed her acoustic guitar to the chords of "If I Had aA Hammer" by Peter, Paul and Mary. With the lyrics projected on a screen, students sang along to the '60s folk song about the hammer of justice and bell of freedom.
He recently spent a full school -day learning of that alliance at the David Posnack Jewish Cultural Center in Davie, where more than 300 Broward County high schoolers visited for a program dedicated to teaching students how Black and Jewish ow activists came together to advocate for one another during the civil rights movement.
Pink, who is Black, said he didn’t know much of the overlap between Jewish and Black history before watching the 2020 documentary "Shared Legacies" at the start of the program., highlighting the historic Black and Jewish civil rights alliance.
After watching the film, he saw its relevance today.
"Through the documentary I got more insight of just how impactful rabbis and everything were on the cCivil rRights movement," Pink told WLRN. "Recently — way more recently — I’ve been seeing a lot more hate on Israel and on Jewish people. It made me feel like we forgot the message, especially with Black history month now and how much they helped us, I feel like it’s really important we give back and we help them."
This year marks the 50 years since Congress recognized Black History Month, but the commemoration of Black hHistory started in 1926 — 100 years ago — as a week-long commitment.
Ten Broward County public high schools participated in the event in early February: Atlantic Vocational College, Blanche Ely High, Boyd Anderson High, Cypress Run Alternative Center, Flanagan High, Henry D. Perry High, Hollywood Hills High, Millennium Academy, Monarch High and Stranahan High.
The Shared Legacies documentary covers slavery and the Holocaust, the long-lasting and painful consequences of racism and antisemitism in the U.S. and intertwined struggle.
In 1958, white supremacists and anti-Semitic hate groups bombed Atlanta’s oldest and most prominent synagogue as retaliation for the rabbi's support of racial integration and activism.
In 1963, Rabbi Joachim Prinz, a Jewish leader in Berlin and later also a cCivil rRights activist in the U.S. after fleeing Nazi Germany, was the last speaker at the March on Washington before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have aA Dream" sSpeech."
"Bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problems," Prinz proclaimed in his speech. "The most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence."
READ MORE: Major study finds more than half of Jewish Americans experienced antisemitism in past year
After the movie, students participated in group learning activities, like comparing Jim Crow laws in segregated U.S. to the Nuremberg Laws in Nazi Germany.
The discussion that followed was mediated by Brian Knowles, education director at Spill the Honey, an organization that uses art to inspire social change and teach of the intertwined Black and Jewish histories.
" When one group suffers, and eventually it can morph into a bigger issue," Knowles, who creates the curriculum, told WLRN. He wanted students to absorb the message that "because you are not a target... you can't be a bystander."
In other words, history teaches that you have to stand up for your peers, even when you're not the victim.
"I just really wanted to just kind of zoom in on just coalition- building and how us as a community have to get beyond our differences because we have more similarities than anything else."
Nessa Schorr and Deshawn Pink, students at Millennium 6-12 Collegiate Academy, walked away with a deeper understanding of shared histories. (5712x4284, AR: 1.3333333333333333)
That message landed with Nessa Schorr, an 11th grader at Millenium 6-12 Collegiate Academy. She's Jewish.
"Being silent... isn't the solution," was Schorr's main takeaway from the documentary. "Instead we should speak up and really come together as individuals, working as a community to combat hatred, to combat antisemitism and to really make sure that everyone feels equal."
The end of the program wrapped up with a musical activity. One of the center's members strummed her acoustic guitar to the chords of "If I Had aA Hammer" by Peter, Paul and Mary. With the lyrics projected on a screen, students sang along to the '60s folk song about the hammer of justice and bell of freedom.