“To join an organization of ‘women’- not
‘ladies’- and one which bore the title ‘club’,
rather than ‘society’, was in itself a radical
step....”
In 1876 Hannah and her
older sister Henriette were elected to the
elite Chicago Woman's Club. "Our
entrance...was significant for the
organization as well as for us, as we were not
only the first Jewish women invited into it,
but were probably the only Jewesses many of
the members ever had met." Many of Solomon's
ideas for the National Council of Jewish Women
stemmed from her experiences with the Chicago
Woman's Club.
The club emphasized
philanthropy and education, with a course of
study that was often as demanding as a first
year college curriculum. Solomon, who had
been educated at both synagogue grammar school
and public high school, was the club's
youngest member. The rigorous academic papers
she authored included "A Review of Spinoza's
Theologico-Politicus" and
"Our Debt to
Judaism," the first talk on
religion ever presented before the club.
Years later, columnist Herma Clark
depicted the
event as a highlight of Chicago's
early glories.
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