Annual Effron Lecture in Jewish Studies to Be Given By Award-Winning Author David E. Lowe
The lecture will cover the extraordinary career of Morris B. Abram, a leading Civil Rights lawyer of the 1950s.
October 9, 2020—Author David E. Lowe will deliver the 44th annual William and Sadie Effron Lecture in Jewish Studies at Marist College on Tuesday, October 27, at 6:00 pm. This online event is free and open to the public.
The talk, “The Actions and Passions of Morris B. Abram,” will draw directly from Lowe’s critically acclaimed book, Touched with Fire: Morris B. Abram and the Battle Against Racial and Religious Discrimination, which was honored with the National Jewish Book Award for Biography in 2019. The book traces the astonishing career of Abram, who was one of the leading Civil rights lawyers in the United States during the 1950s. He unmasked the Ku Klux Klan and served 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, Georgia, which had entrenched racial segregation. The result was the historic “one man, one vote” ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963. He was also the youngest person ever chosen to head the American Jewish Committee.
In 2016 Lowe retired from his position as Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs at the bipartisan National Endowment for Democracy. He previously worked in the Civil Rights Division of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
He holds a PhD in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University and has taught at Drew University, where he directed its programs in London and Washington, as well as George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
Registration is required: visit mari.st/effronlecture. Questions can be sent to Jewish Studies Coordinator Professor Joshua Kotzin Joshua.kotzin@marist.edu.
About the William and Sadie Effron Lecture in Jewish Studies
William and Sadie Effron were longtime civic and cultural leaders in the Poughkeepsie community. The lecture series was established in 1976 to raise awareness at Marist College and in the community of Jewish history, culture, and current affairs.
