Dorah Sterne
Dorah Sterne | |
|---|---|
Dorah Sterne, from the 1919 yearbook of Smith College | |
| Born | Dorah Heyman 1896 Atlanta, Georgia |
| Died | April 9, 1994 (age 97) Birmingham, Alabama |
| Occupations | Civic leader, philanthropist, clubwoman |
| Spouse | Mervyn H. Sterne |
Dorah Sterne (1896 – April 9, 1994), born Dorah Heyman, was an American clubwoman and philanthropist, "a prominent figure in the civic and cultural life" of Birmingham, Alabama.[1]
Early life
Dorah Heyman was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the daughter of Arthur Heyman and Minna Simon Heyman. Both of her parents were born in the American South. Her father was a lawyer. The Heymans were a prominent Southern Jewish family.[2][3] In 1911, she won a gold medal in an essay contest sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[4][5] She graduated from Smith College in 1919.[6][7] In 1985, she was presented with the Smith College Medal, as a distinguished alumna.[8]
Career
In Birmingham, Alabama, after she married, Sterne was active in a range of community leadership roles.[7] She was president of the Birmingham chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women.[9] In 1925, she presided at a meeting of the Southern Interstate Conference of Jewish Women.[10] She was elected commissioner of the Birmingham Girl Scout Council in 1931.[11] She was involved with the Birmingham Little Theater.[12] She was a leader of the Birmingham League of Women Voters from the 1930s into the 1980s; she was honored by the League with a life membership in 1982.[13]
During World War II, the Sternes sponsored families of German Jewish refugees, and helped them settle in Alabama.[14][15] The Sternes' philanthropic interests extended to libraries, museums, hospitals, mental health, and civil rights in Birmingham.[16] She was appointed chair of Birmingham's Motion Picture Review Board when it was formed in 1953.[17]
Sterne gave an oral history interview to the Birmingham Public Library in 1985.[6]
AAUW and prison reform work
Sterne was president of the Birmingham branch of the American Association of University Women.[18][19] Supported by the AAUW, she led "a vigorous campaign for prison reform in Alabama."[20] She served on the state's 1948 Prison Investigating Committee,[21] and arranging for radios for women prisoners.[22] She also organized the sale of rugs made by women prisoners.[23] She lectured about her prison reform work to women's clubs in Selma in 1948.[1]
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Sternes' social circle included University of Alabama at Birmingham administrator John U. Monro.[24] She endowed the Sterne Library at the named in her husband's memory.[7][25] In 1986, she received an honorary life membership in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Alumni Society, for her contributions to the school.[26] The Sterne Family Papers are at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Archives.[27]
Personal life and legacy
In 1922,[28] Dorah Heyman married banker Mervyn Hayden Sterne.[16] They had one daughter, also named Dorah, called Dody.[29] Her husband died in 1973, and Sterne died in 1994, aged 97 years.[8] In 2008, the Sterne's antebellum home on Tyler Road in Birmingham, which was listed in the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage as the Chamblee-Sterne House, was torn down.[30]
References
- ^ a b "Mrs. Stern to Talk Before Groups Here". The Selma Times-Journal. 1948-11-14. p. 17. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Lyons Heyman oral history interview (April 10, 2001), at The William Breman Jewish History Museum.
- ^ Lyons Heyman Family Papers, The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.
- ^ "Winners of the U.D.C. Essay Contest". The Atlanta Journal. 1911-04-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Events in Georgia in 1864; Prize Essay by Miss Dora Heyman of the Eight Grade Crew Street School". The Atlanta Journal. 1911-04-15. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Hazel Olshan, interviewer; Dorah Sterne (January 10, 1985), Birmingham Public Library Digital Collections.
- ^ a b c Boyd, Susan Hurley (1981-02-06). "Wartime loneliness turned her into full-time civic worker". Birmingham Post-Herald. p. 22. Retrieved 2026-02-06 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "Dorah Heyman Sterne (obituary)". The Birmingham News. 1994-04-12. p. 103. Retrieved 2026-02-06 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Nail, Kaye (2010-01-01). "Birmingham's Jewish Women and the Civil Rights Movement "We could have done more"". Vulcan Historical Review. 14 (2010): 173–177. ISSN 1097-6957.
- ^ "Tableaux Dinner for Jewish Conference Delegates". The Birmingham News. 1925-03-31. p. 26. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Objectives for 1932 Pointed Out by Mrs. Sterne". The Birmingham News. 1932-01-03. p. 31. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Birmingham Little Theater's Play Contest". The Montgomery Advertiser. 1929-11-21. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "LWV honors Dorah Sterne". The Birmingham News. 1982-09-10. p. 36. Retrieved 2026-02-06 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Kohn, Ernest Ferdinand Markus". Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Elovitz, Mark H. (2003-03-27). A Century of Jewish Life In Dixie: The Birmingham Experience. University of Alabama Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-8173-5021-5.
- ^ a b Olive, J. Fred III. "Mervyn H. Sterne". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Woodress, Fred (1953-08-06). "New Film Censorship Board Drafts Mrs. Mervyn Sterne as Chairman". Birmingham Post-Herald. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "University Women Slate Luncheon". The Birmingham News. 1938-09-23. p. 27. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Hill, Miriam Gann (1954-08-04). "AAUW to Have Busy Year; Social Work to be Stressed". The Birmingham News. p. 23. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Who Will Be Birmingham's 1948 Woman of the Year?". The Birmingham News. 1948-10-09. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sparrow, Hugh W. (1954-01-27). "State Penal System has 'Grown Up'". The Birmingham News. p. 24. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Sun Shines Through These Prison Bars". The Birmingham News. 1949-11-30. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Gambrill, Fariss (1938-09-27). "A.A.U.W. Broadens Scope". The Birmingham Post. p. 9. Retrieved 2026-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Capossela, Toni-Lee (2012-12-17). John U. Monro: Uncommon Educator. LSU Press. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-8071-4556-2.
- ^ "News from the Friends of Sterne". Directions. 2 (4): 1. Fall 1986.
- ^ "Mrs. Sterne Receives Honor". Directions. 2 (1): 1. Winter 1986.
- ^ Mervyn H. Sterne and Sterne Family Papers, UAB Archives.
- ^ "Mr. Sterne Engaged to Miss Dorah Heyman". The Anniston Star. 1922-09-26. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-11-16 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Dorah A. Sterne is Wed in South; Married to Lawrence Rosen, Washington and Jefferson Alumnus, in Birmingham". The New York Times. 1957-09-08. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-11-16.
- ^ Ellaby, Liz (2008-08-27). "Landmark pioneer cabin now history". The Birmingham News. pp. H1, H5. Retrieved 2026-02-06 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
- Levy, Cynthia Betty. "You Can't Imagine This Life: Diaries and Letters of a Southern-Jewish Grande Dame, Josephine Joel Heyman, 1901-1993" (PhD. diss., Louisiana State University 1999). About Dorah Sterne's sister-in-law, Josephine Joel Heyman.