Rosenberg Fund for Children

ICE shot a woman driving away from them in the face in broad daylight and immediately began to smear her as a perpetrator of violence and domestic terrorism. The greatest threat to Americans is our own “law and order.”

Rosenberg Fund for Children Support the children of resistance.

The RFC provides for the educational and emotional needs of the children of targeted progressive activists. Our grantees are kids of detained immigrants' rights defenders, brutalized anti-racism activists, harassed journalists, targeted union organizers, and so many more. Learn more at www.rfc.org

"Help us grow our emergency grocery gift card fund / Rosenberg Fund for Children / www.rfc.org" text over a darkened image of baskets of fruit in the aisle of a grocery store

The RFC has quadrupled our emergency funds for grocery gifts cards this season to help fams currently served by our granting programs who are facing severe hardship. Help us fund groceries and the edu/emotional needs of kids of targeted activists: bit.ly/give-rfc-2025

trial by jury clearly has a role to play today as it did then. you can read other lessons from this history - ways that multiracial groups people living and working in the North resisted slave power under Black leadership in the latest @hammerandhope.bsky.social

hammerandhope.org/article/unde...

When Rural Hospitals Close, Incarcerated People Lose Healthcare - WORT-FM 89.9 Today’s guests talk about how Medicaid cuts will reduce access to life-saving healthcare for incarcerated people in rural areas.

Nearly a million incarcerated people depend on rural hospitals for care – but now, thanks to Trump's 'big beautiful bill,' many of those hospitals are at risk of closing

This will devastate entire communities, including people behind bars

More here👇

Jurors Find Sandwich Hurler Not Guilty of Assault

Long live sandwich guy!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

Rosenberg Fund for Children Support the children of resistance.

the boys grew up in a loving household and flourished. These positive experiences in the wake of personal and national tragedy inspired Robert to establish the Rosenberg Fund for Children in 1990, his way of paying it forward. www.rfc.org

Abel and Anne provided safe harbor for Robert and his brother, who were only six and ten years old at the time of their parents' execution. Thanks to their adoptive parents, and a large community of generous individuals who rallied to their support,

He later changed the name to “Strange Fruit” and set it to music, and in 1939, played his new song for Billie Holiday at Cafe Society in NYC’s Greenwich Village. She routinely performed it as her last number of the evening, to stunning effect.

Abel was the son of Jewish immigrants and a high school English teacher and poet. In the 1930s, he came across a gruesome photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana and expressed his revulsion with a poem he titled “Bitter Fruit."

In the aftermath of their death, Robert and his brother were adopted by Anne and her husband Abel Meeropol, who was the author of the famous protest song, "Strange Fruit."

Our founder, Robert Meeropol, is the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, whose unjust execution by the federal government at the height of the McCarthy era in the 1950s shook the nation.

How are the Rosenberg Fund for Children and "Strange Fruit" connected? Our founder, Robert Meeropol, is the younger son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, whose unjust execution by the federal government at the height of the McCarthy era in the 1950s shook the nation. In the aftermath of their death, Robert and his brother were adopted by Abel Meeropol, who was the author of the famous protest song, "Strange Fruit," and his wife Anne. Abel was the son of Jewish immigrants and a high school English teacher and poet. In the 1930s, he came across a gruesome photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Indiana and expressed his revulsion with a poem he titled “Bitter Fruit." He later changed the name to “Strange Fruit” and set it to music, and in 1939, played his new song for Billie Holiday at Cafe Society in NYC’s Greenwich Village. She routinely performed it as her last number of the evening, to stunning effect. Abel and Anne provided safe harbor for Robert and his brother, who were only six and ten years old at the time of their parents' execution. Thanks to their adoptive parents, and a large community of generous individuals who rallied to their support, the boys grew up in a loving household and flourished. These positive experiences in the wake of personal and national tragedy inspired Robert to establish the Rosenberg Fund for Children in 1990, his way of paying it forward.

Billie Holiday singing passionately with her head tilted back and her eyes closed

An older Anne and Abel Meeropol smile adoringly at each other

Abel Meeropol joins adopted sons Robert and Michael Meeropol on the floor of the family living room to play with a train set, 1954

How are the Rosenberg Fund for Children and "Strange Fruit" connected?

Full story in thread 🪡

Withholding SNAP benefits leaves millions without the means to survive. We’ve heard from numerous RFC grantee families impacted by the loss, many of whom are facing the real fear of being unable to feed their children as they grapple with the targeting they’ve already experienced.

Man Jailed for Facebook Meme Is Freed in Tennessee Larry Bushart Jr. spent more than a month in jail after a Tennessee sheriff ordered his arrest for a meme trolling a Charlie Kirk vigil.

Bushart’s case is just one of many, including those of activists within the RFC beneficiary community, dealing with the fallout of an escalating censorship culture and rising authoritarianism across the U.S.

theintercept.com/2025/10/30/l...

Execution by nitrogen gas is so clearly cruel and inhumane and amounts to torture. What will it take to finally abolish the death penalty?

Boyd: "There will be no justice in this state until we change this system. I want all my people to keep fighting. Let’s get it.”

#AbolishTheDeathPenalty

'Frogs Together Strong': Why The Portland Protest Frog Is So Good At Trolling Trump Something tells us the administration is not a fan of the Portland frog.

Stay weird, Portland 😂
www.huffpost.com/entry/portla...

The RFC's fall newsletter is here! In this issue, activist parents reflect on the current state of the nation. Plus, Angela Y. Davis to headline the RFC's 35th event in spring 2026, and $220K awarded to the children of targeted activists and youth activists already this year. www.rfc.org/newsletter

Georgia Judge Throws Out Racketeering Charges Against All 61 Defendants Accused of Blocking “Cop City” A Georgia judge said that he will toss out the racketeering charges against all 61 defendants accused of conspiring to block the construction of a $90 million Atlanta police training center known as “...

This is very welcome news. The Stop Cop City protesters should never have faced these unjust charges, and although the fight is not over we're grateful that at least the racketeering charges were dismissed. www.democracynow.org/2025/9/10/he...

Back-to-school beneficiary photos and sweet messages like this one have made our inboxes brighter these days. We remain so inspired by the activist parents around the country making the future more hopeful for the next generations.

Summer is drawing to a close and we are starting to look towards a new granting cycle this fall. This note from an RFC beneficiary serves as a reminder of why we do what we do. Our community’s generosity allows us to support young folks all across the country, and for that, we’re grateful.

Sharing this sweet message from a beneficiary dad whose son, now a young man, has received RFC grants since the spring of 2009. As a long week draws to a close, we’re thankful for the #activist families we admire and the community around us who makes it possible for us to support them.

Thursday, join RFC Founder Robert Meeropol, Ellen Meeropol, and film historian Rick Winston at the Colonial Theatre in NH for a screening of Daniel, “... based on E. L. Doctorow’s novel inspired by the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg”.

Tickets & info: www.catamountarts.org/show/details...

DOGE-impacted federal workers tell their stories in new audio series The testimonials are from people who've worked inside agencies responsible for the health and safety of millions of Americans.

This admin is firing on all cylinders to deny human rights, attack people in their homes, work places, places of worship, schools and hospitals and cut off vital resources that help people survive. Here's one creative way a dear friend of the RFC is pushing back. www.axios.com/2025/07/16/d...

Organizers for liberatory movements have always faced intense suppression, surveillance and elevated charges for their activism. But in the last few months we have observed a marked escalation to the threats and harassment families in our community are facing. We are standing firm to support them.

The dark, McCarthyist history of deporting activists | MR Online Donald Trump is using decades-old laws to expel critics and opponents.

Our members and organization have had a history of being targeted by political repression.

Trump's actions are nothing new, in an ever increasing and openly fascist government.

ACLU of Mass.: Khalil’s arrest evokes darkest days of McCarthyism - The Boston Globe If today the government feels free to target pro-Palestinian protesters, tomorrow it could go after other outspoken critics of its policies.

The Rosenbergs were wrongfully executed at the height of the McCarthy era—now 47 is thrusting the U.S. back into the Red Scare days. The recent unlawful arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, the targeting of Yunseo Chung & too many others is a warning sign. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/03/14/o...

A jury ruled Greenpeace liable for $660M in Energy Transfer’s baseless SLAPP suit. They want to erase Indigenous leadership at Standing Rock, but we know the truth—our movement was born from prayer, led by Native women + youth. No corporation can silence us. #WaterIsLife #WeWillNotBeSilenced

a large crowd of protestors in a city square holding signs, most prominently a sign saying "JEWS FOR JUSTICE"

speakers gathered on steps in the city square. banners with white on black text read: "Jewish & Palestinian Safety Are Intertwined", "First They Came For Mahmoud", and "Safety In Solidarity, Not Authoritarians". In the foreground, we see press photographers from the back, facing the speakers.

an elderly woman speaking at a mic, behind her are three other people looking solemn, and a banner that reads "First They Came For Mahmoud"

A large assembled crowd in front of a government building with stone columns

HAPPENING NOW: 1000+ U.S. Jews are outside ICE headquarters in NYC demanding the release of Mahmoud Khalil and protest the Trump-Musk deportation agenda. 

We are Jews for freedom and democracy saying #FreeMahmoud

This is one more example of an alarming rise in the crackdown on free speech, protest and dissent.

“In my six decades of legal practice, I have never witnessed a trial as unfair as the one against Greenpeace that just ended in the courts of North Dakota."