Morris U. Schappes, a respected historian of American Jewry and longtime editor of the leftist journal Jewish Currents, died June 3 at his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He was 97. A longtime fixture in the world of American communism, Schappes first achieved prominence in 1941 when he was fired, along with 40 others, from the faculty of City College of New York for Communist Party membership. He later served 13 months in prison for perjury after refusing to name other party members before a New York State Legislature committee. Schappes was part of a group of...