Oral History Interview on Connecticut Civil Rights (with video)

Eleanor Neiditz Caplan (born 1928) describes her work with the Connecticut Civil Rights Commission (previously known as the Inter-racial Commission, and today as the CT Human Rights and Opportunities Commission) from 1951 to 1996. She recalls several staff and members of the Commission, including Frank Simpson, Henry Stetler, Arthur Green, Daniel Fletcher, and others named in the anniversary materials that she allowed us to scan. She describes specific incidents regarding the Commission\u27s evolving anti-discrimination policies and powers, such as Fair Employment Practices, public and private housing studies in the 1950s, the education parks bill in the late 1960s, affirmative action, and the Equal Rights Amendment. She also recalls specific incidents of housing discrimination against African-Americans and Jews, and responds to our sample documents of restrictive covenants and housing discrimination complaints to the Commission. She concludes the interview with family memories of growing up as a young Jew in Hartford\u27s North End and the interracial work of her mother, Rachel Neiditz, and her father, Moses Neiditz