I received a moving email early in 2013 from “Amy,” the new RFC contributor (pictured here with her parents in the 1970's), who wanted to explain why she supports the RFC and what this connection means to her.

Here are a few excerpts:

"I have just made a contribution to the RFC in memory of my parents… and I wanted to tell you why I did that.

I just finished reading Robert Meeropol’s beautifully clear memoir, An Execution in the Family (available here), and it reawakened profoundly stirring ­memories.

My parents were life long progressive activists and victims of McCarthyism. My dad lost his college teaching position when he refused to sign a ‘loyalty oath.’ My parents and our neighbors were questioned by FBI agents in the early 50s and my father was threatened and intimidated by being shown a photograph of…him seated at the same table as Julius Rosenberg [at a union conference].

My sister and I (who are a few years older than the Rosenbergs’ sons) were followed by FBI agents and schooled to be silent and secretive about our progressive affiliations at school although we were encouraged to resist repressive propaganda…We spent our summers in progressive summer camps where we enjoyed the healthy childhood experience of belonging to a community of like-minded supporters—being part of the ‘norm’—that helped us grow positive self identities as truth and justice seekers and resisters of injustice.

The Rosenberg case was a central nightmare and the political coming-of-age theme of my childhood and adolescence. Reading Robert’s memoir with the very resonant story of his growing and changing understanding and self empowerment made me realize what a gift my parents gave me and what a legacy Robert Meeropol has carried forward from all his parents.

I’m proud and grateful to be able to make a small contribution to that work—add a link to the chain of hands that carries it onward."

As a daughter and granddaughter acutely aware of following in my family’s footsteps in both my career and my commitment to social justice, I always appreciate hearing from others about how their early years, especially in the often dark days of the 1950s, inspired their commitment to resist repression and work for a more just world. I welcome Amy to the RFC community and join hands with her (and all of you) as we work to honor our collectives legacies of activism.

— Jenn Meeropol