Adam Bell plays the role of Rabbi Allen Secher who will be joining him after this one man show for an audience conversation.
On June 17, 1964, Rabbi Allen Secher, answered an emergency appeal from the Reverend Martin Luther King. He immediately flew to St. Augustine to join a civil rights protest hampered by violent attacks, fire bombings and death threats directed at King and leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Council.
The following day Secher and 15 fellow rabbis were arrested in the midst of a parking lot prayer service at the segregated Monson Motel. Among the rabbis arrested by sheriff's deputies from the Ku Klux Klan was Hanan Sills. At the time he was an assistant rabbis at Emanu-El in the Milwaukee suburb of River Hills.
Their jailing, as well as images of the motel owner dumping muriatic acid on black and white teens attempting to integrate his Monson pool, were horrifying lead media stories coast to coast. This Adam Bell performance profiles a turning point in American civil rights history. He portrays 91 year-old Allen Secher, the last of the 16 rabbis arrested in St. Augustine Florida, still alive.
This protest led directly to the passage of the Civil Rights Act the day after the rabbis were arrested. While they were in prison the rabbis wrote a letter explaining Why We Went that has been called “one of the most dignified and prescient documents of that pivotal era.” It has been compared to King’s letter from the Birmingham jail by former United Nations ambassador Andrew Young who was repeatedly beaten near the St. Augustine Slave Market.
When The Rabbis Came to Town profiles Secher’s seven decade battle against racism and and anti-semetism across America. Sixty-two years later, the victories those rabbis helped secure are under open assault. Secher, 91, knows this which is why he is joining Bell for this Milwaukee premiere. He will speak about his friendship with Milwaukee’s Rabbi Sills. You can read more about the story behind this show here.
Please Note: St. Johns On The Lake residents and their families are kindly requested to reserve by confirming with SStancl@saintjohnsmilw.org Non-residents must reserve ahead by contacting rogerdrapoport@me.com. Seating is limited. Please contact us as soon as possible. If this performance sells out there will be a waiting list.