Sylvia Bernstein, 88; Fought for Civil Rights, D.C.’s Desegregation

Sylvia Bernstein, 88, a native Washingtonian who championed civil rights and civil liberties and fought to desegregate the city in the 1950s, died of pancreatic cancer Sunday at her home in Washington, D.C.

The daughter of Russian immigrants, Bernstein fought to desegregate area restaurants, an amusement park and public swimming pools and playgrounds. She advocated home rule for the District of Columbia and protested the Vietnam War and the development of nuclear weapons.

Over the years, she and her husband, Albert, a union activist, made their home in nearby Silver Spring, Md., into a salon of sorts, where they welcomed thinkers and activists to organize and debate. Albert Bernstein died in February.

Members of the Communist Party in the 1940s, the Bernsteins often were targets of government scrutiny and suspicion. Sylvia Bernstein invoked the 5th Amendment to avoid revealing her party ties to Congress but openly campaigned on behalf of convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in 1953.

Bernstein’s lifelong commitment to social causes is chronicled in her son Carl’s memoir, “Loyalties,” published in 1989. Carl Bernstein is the former Washington Post investigative reporter who, along with Bob Woodward, wrote a series of Watergate break-in stories that led to President Nixon’s resignation.