Biography
Morris U. Schappes was a City College of New York English tutor and Communist Party member targeted in the Rapp-Coudert Committee investigation of subversion in New York's municipal colleges. Indicted by Manhattan DA Thomas Dewey on a felony perjury charge after testifying before the committee in 1941 that only three other CP members had worked at City College (two of whom had died in Spain). Convicted and served 13 months in prison before parole in 1944; later edited Jewish Currents.
Schappes was born in Kamenets-Podolski and came to New York City in 1914. He earned an AB at City College and an MA at Columbia, taught at City College, and worked as an educator, author and editor. The dictionary identifies him as a founder of Jewish Life. This entry adds biographical context without new custody dates.
Jacob Rader Marcus, editor, and Judith M. Daniels, associate editor, The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography, printed page 559 (PDF page 554).
