Celebrating Pi Day and Einstein's birthday on March 14

Pi Day is celebrated to honor the advancements in science, mathematics, and the brilliance of Albert Einstein, who was born on March 14. Einstein is well known for his contributions that were foundational and spawned new fields of study. Little known is Einstein’s fierce advocacy for justice during an era of racial segregation.

Einstein came to the United States to escape virulent anti-semitism in Nazi Germany. He was sensitive to all forms of discrimination. In the United States, he was an outspoken critic of racism. He supported the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). In 1931, Einstein publicly protested the injustice of the Scottsboro Boys trial, where nine African American teenagers were falsely accused of rape, eight of whom were convicted and sentenced to death without evidence and adequate legal representation in a court in Scottsboro, Alabama. In 1946, Einstein joined Paul Robeson, a Princeton native son, in a Federal Anti-Lynching Campaign. When W.E.B. Du Bois, a founder of the NAACP, was indicted by the government as a “foreign agent”, Einstein’s willingness to be a character witness influenced the judge to dismiss the case.

Einstein practiced racial equality into his daily life. While at Princeton, NJ, which was then a highly segregated community, Einstein and residents of the African American community shared warm relationships and he was welcomed in Princeton’s Witherspoon Jackson neighborhood (then the Black part of town). When Marian Anderson, a world-renowned opera singer was invited to perform at The McCarter Theater in Princeton, she was denied a room at the Nassau Inn due to its whites-only policy. Einstein invited Anderson to stay at his home with his daughter. And, even after Paul Robeson was blacklisted by the US Government (in those days, it was common for activists working against racism to be targeted), Einstein continued to invite him to Princeton and publicly supported him.

In 1946, Einstein gave a speech at Lincoln University, where he declared racism a “disease of white people.” In the same year, he published an essay, "The Negro Question," in Pageant magazine, writing: "There is, however, a somber point in the social outlook of Americans. Their sense of equality and human dignity is mainly limited to men of white skins. Even among these there are prejudices of which I as a Jew am clearly conscious; but they are unimportant in comparison with the attitude of the "Whites" toward their fellow-citizens of darker complexion, particularly toward Negroes… I can escape the feeling of complicity in it only by speaking out…Your ancestors dragged these black people from their homes by force; and in the white man's quest for wealth and an easy life they have been ruthlessly suppressed and exploited, degraded into slavery. The modern prejudice against Negroes is the result of the desire to maintain this unworthy condition."

For a more comprehensive study, Einstein on Race and Racism, by Fred Jerome and Rodger Taylor is a good source. I Hear My People Singing, Kathryn Watterson’s book based on interviews with Princeton residents provides a glimpse into the relationship between Einstein and the African American community in Princeton.

Even as we celebrate Pi day with competitions and teach-ins in Mathematics and Science, or by throwing pies at each other (yes, it really happens!), let us also reflect on how we can support those amongst us who are discriminated against, and build a just society where everyone has the opportunity to flourish, in our community, our state and our nation.