Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Local
LocalNews

Emory University Apologizes for Dental School’s Anti-Semitic Actions in 1950s

Posted byBy Stan | Published on: CommentsComments (0)
Emory University President Jack Wagner with Dr. Perry Brickman

Hundreds of people turned out at Emory on Wednesday as the school apologized for anti-Semitic actions at its dental school in the 1950s.

Between 1948 and 1961, 68 percent of Jewish students in the dental school failed or were held back.

“I got the letter. I was totally unaware. Nobody ever called me into their office —  the dean or anybody – to tell me that I wasn’t doing well, I’d always done well,” said Dr. Perry Brickman.

Brickman’s efforts to tell his classmates’ story led to “From Silence to Recognition,” a documentary that premiered at Emory on Wednesday about the discrimination, and to the apology.

“After talking to all these people for so long, they all had a stigma attached to them. They had a scar that didn’t show,” said Brickman.

Many former students said they never expected the apology.

“I never thought in my entire lifetime I would ever hear it,” said Dr. Harold Black.

Stanford Shulman was rejected by Emory’s dental school. His brother Irving was accepted, but was one of so many Jewish students who flunked out. Irving didn’t live to see this apology.

“At least the school is acknowledging it and there was a wrong and they’re trying to right it,’ said Shulman.

The apology wasn’t the first for the university, During the school’s 175th anniversary, Emory formally apologized for its role in slavery in its early years.

Source: Justin Gray, My Fox Atlanta

 

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top