Rome High’s Chelsea Adams Receives Levin Fund for Social Justice Award

Chelsea Adams, a graduating senior from Rome High School, has been named the 2008 recipient of the Rose Esserman Levin and Jule Gordon Levin Fund for Social Justice award.

“Chelsea grew up in a family that believes in community involvement and she has invested her time and energy in a number of worthwhile activities throughout her school career,” said Dr. Craig McDaniel, chairman of the Three Rivers Education Foundation. “She is a great choice to receive the Levin Award for Social Justice.”

The Levin Fund for Social Justice was established in 1993 to honor Rose and Jule Gordon Levin, former residents of Rome. The fund is designed to award an annual scholarship to a graduating senior in Rome who has demonstrated a commitment to human rights and social justice.

Rose Esserman, a native of Rome, married Jule Levin, of Cincinnati in 1940. They lived in Rome until 1963, when they moved to Cincinnati. During their years in Rome, the Levins supported efforts to achieve integration and racial harmony in the Rome community.

Mr. Levin was vice president of Esserman and Co., a retail clothing store established by Pressley Esserman, Mrs. Levin’s father, in 1896. Esserman’s was the first retail store in Rome to desegregate its restrooms, water fountains, and fitting rooms, and the first to employ African Americans as sales clerks.

Mr. Levin was president of the Rome Chamber of Commerce in 1961. He and Mrs. Levin worked with others during the civil rights years to ensure peaceful desegregation of lunch counters and other public facilities in Rome. Mrs. Levin wrote a memoir of life in Rome, including narratives by African-American high school students who participated in sit-ins to desegregate Rome’s lunch counters. Her manuscript, entitled Voices in Protest, is available at the Rome Area History Museum and the Rome Public Library.

The fund was created in honor of her parents by Ann Pressley Levin and her husband, Larry Beeferman, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fund is administered through the Three Rivers Educational Foundation. Contributions may be sent in care of Dr. Craig McDaniel, President, Coosa Valley Technical College, One Maurice Culberson Drive, Rome, GA, 30161.