Human Rights Activist
Writer
Speaker
A native of Newark, New Jersey and a graduate of its tough and mean streets, Charles has pursued truth and justice for most of his life. He fought for the rights of African American students in high school, later he fought for social justice as a member of SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) and NAACP, and after receiving a doctoral degree from Harvard, he spent over three decades campaigned for human and civil rights in Africa, the Middle East and America. Charles is perhaps best known for having risked his life to help redeem hundreds of African slaves from bondage in Sudan. Charles was a founding member of several non-profit organizations whose missions focused on taking direct action to right wrongs.
Charles has been widely published, including in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Jerusalem Post, and the Encyclopedia Britannica. He has appeared on local and national television and radio, including NBC, CBS, NPR, CNN and PBS. He has been a columnist for the Boston Jewish Advocate.
Currently, president of Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) and Board member of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME)
Coretta Scott King and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino give Charles the first ever Boston Freedom Award for for his abolitionist work and helping to liberate slaves in Sudan
September 18, 2000
Dr. Charles Jacobs in Sudan assisting local aid workers employed by Christian Solidarity International to care for freed Sudanese slaves and their families
January 8, 2011
Social Activism
In September of 2008, in response to the growing threat of Islamic and Progressive Radicalism to American society, and the failure of civic and political leaders to deal with these threats, Charles co-founded Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT). APT works to expose and challenge the Islamist-Progressive alliance organized against America, Jews and Israel.
David Project
In the summer of 2002, in response to the emergence of hostility toward Jewish students on college campuses, Charles co-founded The David Project which promotes a fair and honest discussion of the Middle East conflict, and which evolved into a Center for Jewish Leadership. Under Charles’ leadership, The David Project educated thousands of pro-Israel high school students each year, preparing them for the rhetorical battles on the nation’s campuses.
In August 2017 The David Project was integrated into Hillel International.
In 1989, responding to widespread mainstream media bias against Israel, Charles co-founded with Andrea Levin, the Boston branch of CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), a media-monitoring and research organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East.
In 1993, responding to reports of modern-day human bondage, particularly in Africa, Charles, along with African Christians and Muslims, founded the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) which brought international attention to the enslavement of tens of thousands of mostly-Christian Africans in Sudan by militias armed by the radical Islamic regime in Khartoum.
Jacobs has testified before Congress numerous times and on October 21, 2002, was invited to the White House signing of the Sudan Peace Act, where he spoke with President Bush. AASG was instrumental in to influencing the President to change US policy on Sudan which resulted in the birth of the world’s newest nation: South Sudan. This ended the decades long war and ended the slave raids.
Jacobs at a march in New York City organized by black Mauritanians to protest slavery and racial apartheid in North Africa
October 12, 1995