What is the Anti-Defamation League? Purpose, history, founders, etc.

The Anti-Defamation League has been around for 110 years with the stated mission of stopping “by appeals to reason and conscience, and if necessary, by appeals to law, the defamation of the Jewish people.” Its charter as well seeks as its ultimate purpose “to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike and to put an end forever to unjust and unfair discrimination against and ridicule of any sect or body of citizens.”

What is the Anti-Defamation League? Purpose, history, founders, etc.

The impetus for the creation of the Anti-Defamation League was to become proactive in putting a stop to deep-seated bigotry experienced by American Jews, whether newly arrived immigrants or those who had roots in the nation going back generations. The organization was the brainchild of Sigmund Livingston, an attorney from Chicago, that understood there could be no success in the fight against one form of prejudice without taking on prejudice in all forms.

At the time of the ALD’s founding in 1913, there was a tendency to caricature and defame Jews in culture on the stage and in moving pictures. The “untrue and injurious” impressions that that created resulted in prejudice and discrimination among the unthinking minority of the public. Furthermore they were on display during the contentious murder trial which was defined by antisemitism of Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Frank was given the death sentence but the governor reduced it to life in prison. However, a hate-filled mob dragged him from his prison cell and lynched him. In the wake of what happened to Frank, Livington set up the Anti-Defamation League under the auspices of the Order of B’nai B’rith.

The history of the Anti-Defamation League

Since its founding, the Anti-Defamation League has grown to include a network of over two dozen regional offices with its headquarters now in New York City. The expert and professional staff uses the groups decades of knowledge and experience to carry out its mission “to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all.”

The organization, besides working to stop antisemitism, promotes and supports civil rights initiatives and legal cases from school integration in the 1950s to defending equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The organization has also developed anti-bias programs like the A World of Difference, which provides training and resources across the US and overseas. As well it works to shed light on extremist groups whether domestic or foreign and help promote legislation to tackle the dangers that they pose to American democracy.