Many people, hopefully most, are very proud of their parents. But Alice Farber, Roxborough resident for 40 years and a massage therapist and retired art teacher in the Philadelphia public schools, was getting bored in her retirement, so she decided to spend her time doing something very unusual but very rewarding.

“I always volunteer on MLK Day,” she told the Local last week, “and it occurred to me that since we are honoring this great civil rights champion, I should also honor my dad. Very few people know about him, but they should because he was also a brave civil rights hero. Very few people even know about the Scottsboro Boys, although they were part of a huge national news story many years ago, and my dad helped get them out of prison after many years.”

Farber’s dad, Allan Taub, a New York lawyer for 45 years who argued dangerous labor and civil rights cases in the 1930s, died in 1995 at age 93. As a volunteer for the American Civil Liberties Union, he represented “the Scottsboro Boys,” nine young Black men who were charged with raping two white women in 1931, a case that became a cause celebre. Taub served as co-counsel in the early stages of the case in Scottsboro, Alabama, which ended in convictions that placed eight of the “Boys” on death row.

After years of complicated proceedings, the state agreed to drop charges against some of the men in 1937 because of perjured testimony. Another escaped to Michigan, which refused to extradite him, and Alabama Gov. George Wallace pardoned yet another in 1976. Taub received numerous death threats during the years-long ordeal, was brutally beaten by the Ku Klux Klan, and barely escaped a lynch mob.

Taub was also a lawyer for the nationally publicized striking coal miners in Harlan, Kentucky, in 1932 when sympathizers trucking in food for the miners’ families were forced to leave by local officials. Disorder broke out, the visitors and lawyers were beset by a mob, and Taub suffered a serious head injury. The next year, he defended Dan Pippen Jr., a Black teenager accused of slaying a white woman in Alabama. Pippen was lynched after his indictment, and Taub was threatened by a mob and had to leave under National Guard escort.

In January of this year, Farber decided to have gatherings in her house to tell those who come about her father’s lifelong civil rights work. She had two in January and two in May, one of which this reporter attended. All told, 66 people have attended. The meetings may be in the Andorra Library in the future.

“I invite people I have known for years and people I just met, and they tell their friends,” Farber said. “I am thrilled at the turnouts and the response. As you saw, we also sing some songs that nobody else knows. There are so many places I go to now and think ‘Should I tell these people about our get-togethers?’”

Farber filled her life with teaching and making art before her retirement. She taught in Philadelphia schools for 38 years. Her last teaching assignment was at the Anne Frank Elementary School in the Northeast, where she remained for 13 years. Her students’ artwork was so impressive that Woodmere once gave them an entire room to exhibit their work, which also resulted in an article in the Local.

“It was a joy to teach there,” Farber said. “A terrific school with 44 different nationalities. Once a month they’d bring in food from their culture. They filled my life. I also took classes at Chestnut Hill College, Mt. Airy Learning Tree and elsewhere. [I] was a prolific artist for years and spent so much time being creative and not enough being social. And my three best friends all moved away to Alaska, Hawaii and New Mexico, too far away for me to travel to now.”

One of Farber’s most memorable experiences was meeting actor Paul Newman in Connecticut 30 years ago. “He gave me $5,000 for my students,” she said. “He was so great to talk to. He sent the money to Utrecht’s Art Supply Store in Center City, and my students sent him pictures.”

Zipora Schulz, a Germantown artist, told the Local, “Alice has been very supportive of me and helped me navigate the road to becoming a school teacher in Philadelphia for many years. I consider Alice a performance artist of sorts; wherever she goes, she engages and inspires people.”

A New York native, Farber came to Philadelphia at age 18 to attend Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and stayed here. In addition to the informative get-togethers about her father’s civil rights history, Farber has also begun a storytelling club, which has had four sessions so far at the Center on the Hill.

“I wanted to meet new people, mostly women,” said Farber, who is married to opera singer Paul Sofian. “Everyone gets to tell a story. One woman talked about how she met the Three Stooges. People get to know each other and make new friends. I tried laughter yoga, but it was so boring. My storytelling group is actually much funnier.”

For more information, email alicefarber1@gmail.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.