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      Born May 15, 1928 and raised in a radically socialist and anti-religious immigrant household, Noyma Appelbaum was taught at a young age to fight for democracy and equality among the working class and all people of the United States, regardless of race, religion, gender, or ethnicity. Noyma’s fervor continued while attending Temple University for his degree in Journalism, where he became a member of Temple’s Communist Club. Simultaneously, Noyma was also working half-time at the Philadelphia edition Daily Worker, a popular communist newspaper, under the supervision of the renowned surrealist poet Walter Lowenfels. After graduation, he maintained an active involvement in the American Communist movement and worked a number of industrial jobs before returning to Temple for his doctorate in foundations of Education.

        Noyma has accomplished much in his life. While working with Lowenfels, he strove for the end of police brutality and wrongful convictions that may have served for a model for the Civil Rights Movement. Throughout the rest of his life, Noyma devoted his time pushing for adequate wages for workers, tolerance and integration of African-Americans, new approaches to education, and more. Now, Noyma has come back to Temple University again in order to offer his story.

 

-Compliled by Caleb Fortwangler and Jennifer Ryder

Noyma Appelbaum

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