Touched with fire : Morris B. Abram and the battle against racial and religious discrimination / David E. Lowe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lowe, David E., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jewish lawyers--United States--Biography.

Jewish lawyers.

Jews--Political activity--United States.

Jews.

American Jewish Committee.

Abram, Morris B.

Lawyers--United States--Biography.

Lawyers.

Jews--Political activity.

United States.

Civil rights--United States--History.

Civil rights.

History.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 287 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[Lincoln, Nebraska] : Potomac Books, [2019]

Summary:

"Morris B. Abram (1918-2000) emerged from humble origins in a rural South Georgia town to become one of the leading civil rights lawyers in the United States during the 1950s. While unmasking the Ku Klux Klan and serving as a key intermediary for the release of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. from prison on the eve of the 1960 presidential election, Abram carried out a successful fourteen-year battle to end the discriminatory voting system in his home state, which had entrenched racial segregation. The result was the historic "one man, one vote" ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963.<BR /> At the time of his selection, the youngest person ever chosen to head the American Jewish Committee, Abram also became a leading international advocate for the Jewish state of Israel. He was also a champion of international human rights, from his leadership in the struggle to liberate Soviet Jewry to his service as permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva.<BR /> In Touched with Fire David E. Lowe chronicles the professional and personal life of this larger-than-life man. Encompassing many of the contentious issues we still face today, such as legislative apportionment, affirmative action, campus unrest, and the enforcement of international human rights, Abram's varied career sheds light on our own troubled times.<BR /> Abram was tapped for service by five different U.S. presidents and survived a battle with acute myelocytic leukemia. He never abandoned his belief that the United States might someday become a colorblind society, where people would be judged, as his friend Martin Luther King dreamed, not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. This elegantly written book is the biography Abram has long deserved.<BR />"-- Provided by publisher.

"David E. Lowe chronicles the professional and personal life of this larger-than-life man best known for his fight in the civil rights movement and his initiative in establishing the "one man, one vote" principle in American law"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Childhood

Education

Atlanta lawyer

Victory

Jewish imperatives

Continuing the struggle

Brandeis

Values

New York lawyer

Transition

Challenging new definitions of civil rights

Leadership

Back to the United Nations

Legacy.

Notes:

Place of publication taken from publisher's website.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

National Jewish Book Awards - Biography, Winner, 2019

ISBN:

9781640120969

1640120963

OCLC:

1089955491

Publisher Number:

40029573296