Rabbi Gerald Zelermyer is attacked.

Two young African-American men come to Zelermyer’s door at 41 Glenhill Road. They hand him a note, which demands he “lead the Jewish racists out of Mattapan,” then throw acid in his face and run away. In an article describing the attack that he writes for the Jewish Advocate on July 3, 1969, Zelermyer criticizes Jewish leaders for treating the lower-middle class residents as “Flagging stepchildren,” and declares, “The sad fact is that the community beyond has sounded a requiem for our area through almost wholesale indifference.”