Bread and Roses: How Jewish Women Shaped Early 20th Century Activism
Tuesdays, May 13, 20, 27, 7:00-8:30 pm on Zoom Only (link included in registration confirmation) Registration Required

This course will focus on Jewish women's political organizing that grew out of women-led grassroots neighborhood movements in immigrant, working-class New York City in the early 1900s. Using primary sources in English, short readings, and other multimedia resources drawn from the archives, we will trace the arc of Jewish women's political organizing from the kosher meat boycott of 1902 to the "Uprising of the 20,000" in 1909, the largest strike by women to date in American history; and Jewish women's activism in the Communist movement during the Great Depression. We'll learn the life stories of women such as Clara Lemlich Shavelson, Rose Pastor Stokes, and June Croll Gordon, and examine the ways in which Jewish women understood their political commitments, and their own privilege, in relation to other ethnic and racial groups.

Jennifer Young is an educator, writer, and historian. She has worked at the Tenement Museum, the New-York Historical Society, and the YIVO Institute, and currently works at the Yiddish Book Center.