21 Facts About Igal Roodenko

Igal Roodenko was an American civil rights activist, and pacifist.

Igal Roodenko was born on February 8,1917, in New York City.

Morris Igal Roodenko started with a push-cart on the Lower East Side, and eventually had a small dry goods shop.

Igal Roodenko decided to become a vegetarian at a young age, and his entire family followed suit - mother, father, and younger sister.

Igal Roodenko was raised in a Zionist, Socialist, vegetarian home.

Igal Roodenko graduated from Townsend Harris High School in Manhattan, New York.

Igal Roodenko attended Cornell University from 1934 to 1938, where he received a degree in horticulture, with the intention of taking these skills to Palestine.

Igal Roodenko was a Conscientious Objector during WW2; he was very active in anti-Hitler activities before the United States joined the war, but did not believe in conscription, so he ended up in federal prison for 20 months.

Igal Roodenko's principles led him to refuse to work, which in turn led to his arrest, conviction, and imprisonment at the Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone.

Igal Roodenko sued the United States government, challenging the constitutionality of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.

Igal Roodenko was an early member of the Committee for Nonviolent Revolution, a pacifist group founded in New York City in 1946.

Igal Roodenko became involved with the pacifist organization, the War Resisters League, and served on their executive committee from 1947 to 1977.

Igal Roodenko eventually sold his print shop and devoted the rest of his life to the WRL while still printing their annual Peace Calendar.

Igal Roodenko traveled around the country and around the world speaking about peace and justice and pacifism.

Igal Roodenko spoke at schools and universities, houses of worship, conferences and rallies, and many times in his travels, he'd get arrested.

Igal Roodenko was a gifted speaker and a wonderful story teller.

Igal Roodenko reached out to Orange County Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour, whose office researched the incident and legal cases.

Igal Roodenko told me many times that his favorite thing to do was to give a speech.

Igal Roodenko was arrested numerous other times throughout his life: in 1962 for leading a peace rally in Times Square.

Igal Roodenko died on April 28,1991, in Beekman Downtown Hospital in New York of a heart attack.

Igal Roodenko was awarded the War Resisters League Peace Award in 1979.