What a uniquely Atlanta tale.
Atlanta-born playwright Alfred Uhry was honored at the Temple on March 30 – weaving together several strands of religious and racial history and prejudice.
Uhry is an acclaimed author and playwright who has won two Tonys, an Oscar and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing. He is best known for his Atlanta trilogy of three plays: Driving Miss Daisy, Last Night at Ballyhoo and Parade.
Uhry’s presence in town provided an opportunity to commemorate the intertwining of Black and Jewish relations in Atlanta dating from the early 1900s with the Leo Frank case (Parade) to the civil rights era of the 1960s (Driving Miss Daisy).
In fact, a revival of the Parade musical was performed at the Fox Theatre from April 1 to April 6. After the April 2 Parade performance at the Fox, Uhry did a “talk back” session with Peter Berg, the senior rabbi at the Temple.
Uhry, 88, described the weeklong events of being in Atlanta as “surreal.”
While growing up in Atlanta, Uhry said he did not focus on being Jewish and never learned a word of Hebrew, saying: “We were Southern first, American second and Jewish third.”
Still, he felt discrimination.
“I got called a dirty Jew more times than I want to remember,” said Uhry, who still feels a strong connection to his roots. “There’s something powerful, magical about growing up in the South. You knew a lot of it was wrong, but Southerners are great storytellers.”
The first premier of Parade was 27 years ago, but it didn’t resonate as much then as the current revival of the musical.
“Antisemitism is a light sleeper,” Berg remarked. “It doesn’t take much to wake it up.”
Uhry agreed.
“We realized we were playing to a different world. Here it is coming back,” who remarked that the person who played Tom Watson in the musical looked just like Vice President J.D. Vance. “I can now say I’m a Jew with pride.”
At the March 30 Temple dinner, former Gov. Roy Barnes borrowed a line from author William Faulkner: “In the South, the past is not dead; it’s not even past.”
That sentiment dominated the dinner at the Temple, which was organized by The Breman.
For starters, Barnes told his tale of growing up in Cobb County, where Leo Frank was lynched in 1915 after being convicted for the April 1913 murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan. She was working in the Atlanta pencil factory where Frank was a supervisor.
“I was always fascinated by the case,” Barnes said. After spending time with historical writer Steve Oney “I became convinced the case was the greatest miscarriage ever.”
Frank was given a posthumous pardon in 1986 “on the basis that he did not receive a fair trial.” But, according to Barnes, that pardon did not go far enough.
“One of the things we are trying to do now is to vacate the conviction of Leo Frank because he was, in fact, not guilty,” Barnes said. “He was innocent of the charges.”
Barnes said he was asked by a member of Phagan’s family about why he keeps bringing up the case.
“So we can remember,” Barnes recalled telling her. “This should never happen again. Leo Frank should be exonerated.”
Uhry’s great uncle, Sigmund Montag, owned the pencil factory. Several members of the Montag family attended the dinner at the Temple on March 30 – another example of how history in Atlanta lives on.
Next up was Michael Lomax, president of the United Negro College Fund and former chair of the Fulton County Commission.
“It’s good to be back in Atlanta,” Lomax said. “I’m here this evening to honor Alfred Uhry and this very important play.”
Lomax, who has been at the UNCF for 21 years but still has a home in Atlanta, spoke of the unique relationships Jews and Blacks had during the civil rights movement.
Key Atlanta families involved in forging Black-Jewish relations also attended the dinner at the Temple, including Elaine Alexander as well as Kenneth and Michelle Taylor. The key sponsors of the dinner were Buck Goldstein and Bill Schwartz.
“These people worked together to build a new Atlanta,” Lomax said.
That spirit of Black-Jewish relations — both locally and nationally — is being reignited thanks to the UNCF’s recently launched Tikkun Olam Society Initiative. Tikkun Olam refers to the Jewish obligation to heal the world.
Lomax said some of UNCF’s most committed supporters are Jewish Americans, and there’s a need for future generations of Blacks and Jews to stand together.
“We have both been hated,” Lomax said. “But it’s more than a shared experience of hate. It’s also deeply embedded in friendship.”
Spearheading the initiative is John Eaves, also a former chair of the Fulton County Commission. Eaves, who is a member of the Temple, has a unique perspective as someone who is both Black and Jewish. His grandparents converted to Judaism after they immigrated from Jamaica to the United States in 1913.
Eaves founded an organization three years ago called “Black and Jewish Leaders of Tomorrow.” One of the activities he launched was Unity Dinners. When UNCF received a $1 million grant from the Robert Kraft Foundation, Lomax contacted Eaves last year to see if he would lead UNCF’s Tikkun Olam initiative.
About seven unity dinners already have been held across the country, including one in Atlanta last fall. The dinners are a partnership between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hillel International, serving about 180,000 Jewish college students around the world.
“In many cases, the Black and Jewish students don’t really know each other,” Eaves said. “They find out they have a whole lot more in common than they thought.
Eaves pointed to several examples of Black-Jewish relations in Atlanta and Georgia.
During the civil rights movement, there was a friendship between Martin Luther King Jr. and the Temple’s Rabbi Jacob Rothschild. Eaves also mentioned Georgia’s two U.S. senators — Jon Ossoff, who is Jewish, and Raphael Warnock, who is Black. Both got into office by winning the run-off election on Jan. 5, 2021, thanks to a large turnout of Black and Jewish voters.
“Michael and I have talked about how Atlanta can do more to further cement our story,” Eaves said. A table of HBCU students also attended the March 30 dinner at the Temple.
“Our work isn’t over,” Lomax said. “Our work is just beginning.”
Maria, Great writing. All so poignant now.
My step-mother-in-law and Mr. Uhry were at Druid Hills HS together. He has edited, usually from home in New York, her correspondence for their class reunion.