Alumni Spotlight: Br. Morris Abrams

Born in rural South Georgia in 1918, Brother Morris Abram would become one of Phi Kappa’s most distinguished alumni through his lifelong commitment to service, holding many titles, but never forgetting his one important goal of equal opportunity and respect. 

Raised in the Baptist south, Brother Abram’s Jewish heritage positioned him to understand what being a minority felt like. As a young man, he became acutely aware of the conflicts inherent between the Fourteenth Amendment and southern practices. A mere ninety pounds, he adopted a big voice that earned him a place as a guest speaker in nearby black churches. Describing his own talent, he remarked “I could almost in the manner of a local preacher breathe fire and brimstone.”

During his undergraduate days at the University of Georgia, he would join Phi Kappa Literary Society during which time he would attempt something that had never been done before: induct a sitting U.S. President. It worked. Accompanied by a group of family and friends, Brother Abram witnessed the induction of honorable Brother Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

After reportedly graduating with the highest GPA in the university’s history, he served during World War II and enrolled as Rhodes Scholar at Oxford shortly after. His assignment to conduct legal research in the Nuremburg trials, however, would motivate him for the rest of his life to campaign for human rights. 

His 14-year fight to overturn Georgia’s electoral rules that established the county unit system favoring rural white voter, bringing cases to the Supreme Court before it was overturned in 1963 as unconstitutional. Subsequently, he would serve under fight U.S. presidents as the representative to various commissions including the United Nations. 

After his own fight with Leukemia in 1972, he would live more than 20 years to found the U.N. Watch, an organization created to monitor application of UN charter that still exists today. 

In all of his tremendous achievements, Brother Abram brought the siblinghood that Phi Kappa so encourages in our hall to a wider audience, stressing equality and understanding. Moreover, he used to his eloquent voice to speak to the issues that still deeply plague us. His death does not deter the tremendous burden he places on each one of us to challenge ourselves to live by his example.