Morris Milgram photographs

These two photographs portray Morris Milgram (1916-1997), a lifelong social activist and civil rights trailblazer. Born and raised in New York City, Milgram spent a decade at the Workers Defense League in New Jersey before relocating to Philadelphia in 1947 to become a partner in his father-in-law&r...

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Bibliographic Details
Collection:Morris Milgram papers (#2176)
Dimensions:9 x 12.6 cm
12.6 x 19.2 cm
Box Number:Box 251
Folder Number:Folder 8
Format: Electronic
Subjects and Genres:
Copyright:Please contact Historical Society of Pennsylvania Rights and Reproductions (rnr@hsp.org)
Online Access:https://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php/Detail/objects/11545
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Summary: These two photographs portray Morris Milgram (1916-1997), a lifelong social activist and civil rights trailblazer. Born and raised in New York City, Milgram spent a decade at the Workers Defense League in New Jersey before relocating to Philadelphia in 1947 to become a partner in his father-in-law’s local contracting company. Upon inheriting the business a few years later, Milgram turned his construction experience and civil rights advocacy into a lifelong crusade for integrated housing. “If we don’t learn to live together,” Milgram declared in 1969, “soon the world is going to come apart.” In all, Milgram provided integrated housing to more than 20,000 people in eleven states. In 1968 he became the first recipient of the National Human Rights Award issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Milgram lived consecutively and for many years in two of his integrated housing projects in the Philadelphia area until he entered a nursing home in 1990. As recalled by Millgram’s son at the time of his death, “He believed in living what you preach.”