Muriel Rukeyser publishes second book of poems

January 31, 1938

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When Muriel Rukeyser published U.S. 1, her second book of poems, on January 31, 1938, she was hailed as "a dramatic lyric poet" whose "images of motion, of the driven mind and body are distinctly exciting and right." Although her first book, Theory of Flight, had won the Yale Younger Poets award in 1935, critics credited U.S. 1 with dispensing with the "piling up of obscure detail" which had marked her first book. Rukeyser went on to publish 17 additional books of poems over four decades, culminating in The Collected Poems of Muriel Rukeyser in 1979. She also wrote several children's books and published translations of works by Gunnar Ekelof and Bertolt Brecht.

In both her poetry and her life, Rukeyser was deeply engaged in the cause of social justice, a path that led to multiple conflicts with authorities. Born on December 15, 1913 in New York City, Rukeyser's middle-class upbringing and college education were interrupted by her father's bankruptcy in the Great Depression. Her first foray into the political realm came in 1933, when she traveled to Scottsboro, Alabama, with college friends to report on the trial of nine young black men accused of raping two white girls. In Alabama, Rukeyser was arrested for communicating with black reporters and carrying literature of the National Students League. She later wrote about the experience in her poem "The Trial." In 1936, she traveled to Spain to report on protests against the Olympics being held in Hitler's Germany; upon her return to the U.S., she became active in supporting the Loyalists in the Spanish civil war. Decades later, she was arrested for protesting the Vietnam War. All of these incidents, and other themes of social protest, found their way into her writing.

Although Rukeyser never publicly identified as a lesbian, her poetry referred to love between women and railed against homophobia. Her oft-quoted words of tribute to artist Käthe Kollwitz point stunningly to the suppression of women's voices and the potential power of their liberation: "What would happen if one woman told the truth about her life? / The world would split open." Rukeyser's reflections on Jewish identity likewise suggested the pain inherent—for a Jew—in either suppressing or embracing one's essential identity. This excerpt from "To Be a Jew in the 20th Century," from "Letter to the Front," (1944) presents the challenge:

To be a Jew in the twentieth century
Is to be offered a gift. If you refuse,
Wishing to be invisible, you choose
Death of the spirit, the stone insanity.
Accepting, take full life. Full agonies:

Although Rukeyser's work always had its critics, she was recognized for her talent during her lifetime. She won a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Copernicus Prize, and the Shelley Memorial Award, and was elected president of PEN. The New York Times called her collected poems "richly rewarding." Rukeyser died on February 12, 1980.

Learn more about Muriel Rukeyser in Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia.

See also: This Week in History for May 8, 1942 "Poet Muriel Rukeyser receives $1000 literary award," and December 15, 1913 "Birth of poet Muriel Rukeyser"; "Muriel Rukeyser: Daring to Live for the Impossible" and "Breath in experience, breathe out poetry," Jewesses with Attitude; Jewish Women "On the Map" - Muriel Rukeyser's Poem "Rune" and Muriel Rukeyser plaque outside the New York Public Library; Poetry in the United States; Muriel Rukeyser in the Virtual Archive.

Sources:New York Times, 31 January 1938, 27 March 1938, 13 February 1980; Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, pp. 1191-1193; www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/m_r/rukeyser/tobeajew.htm; www.glbtq.com/literature/rukeyser_m.html.

Founding of Labor Zionist group Pioneer Women

February 1, 1925

Sophie Udin and six other women who had been active in the labor Zionist organization Poale Zion, created the Pioneer Women’s Organization of America on February 1, 1925. The organization was renamed Pioneer Women in 1947 and Na'amat (a Hebrew acronym for "Movement of Working Women and Volunteers") USA in 1981.

Udin and her colleagues had previously attempted to raise money from American women in support of the creation of agricultural schools in Palestine. The male leaders of Poale Zion argued that their organization offered women full equality and that there was no need for a separate women’s organization. The creators of Pioneer Women, however, pointed to Poale Zion’s small number of female members and its domination by male leaders. Moreover, the middle-class orientation of the rapidly expanding Hadassah, founded in 1912, made that organization seem less than welcoming to many immigrant, working-class, and Yiddish-speaking women Zionists. The creators of Pioneer Women believed that a women’s labor Zionist organization would engage immigrant and working women who might otherwise be unable to find a home for their Zionist energies.

Post 1948, the organization focused on helping female pioneers and working women in Israel, largely by raising money for necessities ranging from laundry equipment to wells for irrigating fruit trees. Feminism and class consciousness were also crucial components of the Pioneer Women philosophy. Its leaders stressed the importance of women's contributions to the Zionist enterprise and encouraged each member to become a "coworker in the establishment of a better and more just society in America and throughout the world."

Today, Na'amat works on a wide range of issues relevant to women in Israel, the U.S.A., and internationally, from seeking an end to domestic violence to improving workplace conditions, and from child well-being to peace in the Middle East.

To learn more about Sophie Udin, visit Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

See also: Librarians in the United States; Zionism in the United States; Sara Feder-Keyfitz; Mexico.

Sources:Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, pp. 1071-1077; www.naamat.org; Shulamit Reinharz and Mark A. Raider, eds. American Jewish Women and the Zionist Enterprise (2005), pp. 114-132; www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm/bay/search.summary/orgid/6033.htm.

Rae D. Landy Arrives in Jerusalem

February 2, 1913

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Hadassah nurses Rachel Landy and Rose Kaplan with Eva Leon, Jerusalem, 1913

Rae D. Landy was an early recruit to Hadassah’s district nursing service in Jerusalem, Mandate Palestine and later rose through the ranks of the American Army Nurse Corps to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Born in Lithuania, Rachel D. Landy (1885-1952), nick-named “Rae,” was one of seven children born to Rabbi Jacob and Eva Landy. In 1888, the family immigrated to Cleveland, OH.

In 1904, Rae graduated with the first class of nursing students sponsored by the Jewish Women’s Hospital Association (precursor to Mount Sinai Hospital) in Cleveland. She became an assistant superintendent at Harlem Hospital in New York in 1911, where she was recruited by Henrietta Szold, the intrepid Hadassah founder. The 28-year-old arrived in Mandate Palestine on February 2, 1913.

In Palestine, Landy and fellow nurse Rose Kaplan started a district visiting nurse program for immigrants suffering from malaria, typhoid, and dysentery. From two rooms they rented on the outskirts of the Old City of Jerusalem, Landy and Kaplan launched a clinic and nurse’s settlement house where young Jerusalem girls received training in nursing, first aid, and hygiene. When Hadassah suspended its activities during the First World War, Landy returned home to the United States.

Upon her return in 1918, Landy entered the United States Army Nurse Corps. She served in Germany, Belgium, France, and the Phillipines. She continued an illustrious career with the Army Nurse Corps, and in 1944 was named Chief of Nurses at Crile General Hospital in Cleveland. Until her death on March 5, 1952, Landy worked with the Cleveland Red Cross and recruited nurses for Mount Sinai Hospital. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

To learn more about Rae D. Landy, visit Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

See also: Hadassah in the United States; Jewish Women "On the Map" - Mount Sinai Hospital.

Sources: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/landy-rae-d

Judge Justine Wise Polier retires

February 3, 1973

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Building on the legacy of her parents, labor activist and rabbi Stephen Wise and social reformer Louise Waterman Wise, Justine Wise Polier spent four decades on the New York City Family Court working for the rights of children before retiring on February 3, 1973.

Born on April 12, 1903, Polier studied at Bryn Mawr College and Radcliffe College before graduating from Barnard College. After graduation, she sought work in the textile mills of Passaic, NJ, wanting to be involved in the lives of workers struggling for union recognition. To avoid association with the pro-labor views of her famous father, she used her mother's maiden name. When her identity was discovered, she was fired and blacklisted, because mill owners feared she would put her father's pro-union sentiments into action.

Heeding her father's advice to seek social justice through the law, Polier entered Yale University Law School in 1925. At Yale, she was elected to an honorary society and became an editor of the Yale Law Journal. She also became deeply involved in a strike in Passaic, earning the epithet "Joan of Arc of the mills."

Beginning in 1929, Polier held a series of positions with the Workman's Compensation Division of the New York State Department of Labor. In 1935, New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia appointed her to a judgeship in the city's domestic relations court (which later became the family court). She thus became the first woman judge above the level of magistrate in the state and the youngest municipal judge in the country. Fearing she was being "kicked upstairs" in order to silence her outspoken criticism of municipal services, Polier originally told La Guardia that she would sit on the court for one year. That one year stretched into 38.

Polier was known for her judicial activism. Always concerned with social justice, she worked with others on the family court to fight racial and religious discrimination, and sought to turn the juvenile justice system into a tool of treatment rather than punishment. Attentive to the findings of social and behavioral sciences, Polier turned her court into the center of a web of cooperation between the legal system, families, and a network of social service organizations. Notably, she helped to develop the concept of the "best interests" of the child as a foundation for legal decision-making. Also notable was her ruling in the Skipwith case (1958-61), which determined that the state was responsible for de facto segregation in the Harlem public schools.

Polier was as active in social justice off the bench as on it. As vice president of the American Jewish Congress, she helped steer that organization towards activism on behalf of racial minorities. She helped to found the Citizens Committee for Children, an advocacy group, and collaborated with Eleanor Roosevelt to create the Wiltwyck School for emotionally disturbed children.

Polier was originally scheduled to retire in 1974, but stepped down a year early in order to become the director of the Juvenile Justice Division of the Children's Defense Fund, monitoring juvenile detention policies across the United States. She told reporters at the time that her decision was fueled by changes in federal welfare laws and by President Nixon's 1972 veto of the Comprehensive Child Development bill, which would have provided a comprehensive range of services for children regardless of their parents' economic status. She also wanted to combat institutional racism in the agencies that served troubled children.

When Polier died in 1987, she left a legacy of profound commitment to the welfare of all children, an expanded tradition of judicial activism, and a host of organizations and individuals transformed by her work.

To learn more about Justine Wise Polier, visit Women of Valor or Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

See also: Justine Wise Polier poster ; “Jeanne D’Arc of the Mills,” New York Journal, March 1926, Primary Sources & Lesson Plans; Justine Wise Polier in the Virtual Archive.

Sources:jwa.org/exhibits/wov/wise; Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, pp. 1089-1091; New York Times, 3 February 1973, 2 August 1987.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reveals her Jewish origins

February 3, 1997

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Madeleine Albright was the first female U.S. Secretary of State.

Less than two weeks after Madeleine Albright was sworn in as the first female U.S. Secretary of State, investigations by the Washington Post revealed that Albright's parents were born Jewish. Albright made the story public in an Associated Press interview on February 3, 1997.

Although three of Madeleine Albright's grandparents had been murdered as Jews during the Holocaust, she had been raised by her parents as a Catholic. Albright joined the Episcopal Church at her marriage.

Albright's parents had fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia for Britain during the Second World War. Returning home, Albright's father became a Czech ambassador, but the family fled again when the Czech government fell to a Communist coup. Like some other Holocaust refugees, Albright's parents felt it safer to remain Christians even after they were granted asylum in the U.S. in 1949. According to Albright, they never told their daughter their full story.

The uncovering of Albright's origins initiated an extended public debate. Albright had indicated that her inbred knowledge of the true threat of totalitarian regimes was an important element of her understanding of the contemporary world. Many commentators questioned how someone as sensitive to history as Albright could have been as incurious as she had seemed to be about evidence pointing to her family's origins.

Madeleine Albright's installation as President Bill Clinton's Secretary of State on January 23, 1997 followed a four-year stint as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

While serving as Secretary of State, Albright kept the U.S. actively engaged in the international arena. During her term, she brokered peace in Kosovo, presided over the expansion of NATO, secured U.S. ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention, and traveled to 91 countries over four years. As Secretary of State, she displayed a toughness of character and bluntness of speech that supporters applauded even as critics charged that these qualities alienated allies.

Albright served as Secretary of State until the end of Clinton's Presidency in January, 2001. Albright is currently the Mortara Distinguished Professor of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. The author of many books, Albright's most recent works include Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership (2008) and Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat's Jewel Box (2009).

Sources:Washington Post, February 5, 1997, February 9, 1997; New York Times, September 22, 1996, January 23, 1997, February 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 19, 26, 1997; Los Angeles Times, December 24, 2000; National Women's Hall of Fame, www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=7.

Rebecca Gratz founds first Jewish Sunday School

February 4, 1838

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Born into privilege in Philadelphia shortly after American independence, Rebecca Gratz was responsible for establishing and running a number of Jewish organizations in her native city, including the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (1819) and the Hebrew Sunday School (1838). A strong believer in American religious freedom, she nonetheless felt that Jews had a responsibility to be knowledgeable about their own faith.

Institution: American Jewish Historical Society

Drawing upon an established network of Jewish women communal workers in Philadelphia, Rebecca Gratz presided over the establishment of the first Jewish Sunday School on February 4, 1838.

Taking its cue from the Christian Sunday School movement, the Philadelphia Hebrew Sunday School Society offered a new and long-lived model of Jewish education. While Gratz prized the religious freedom available to Jews in the United States, she also believed that American Jews could best earn the respect of the Christian majority by being knowledgeable and observant. To that end, the Hebrew Sunday School offered weekly classes free of charge to both boys and girls from early childhood to the early teens.

In addition to educating Philadelphia's Jewish youth, the Hebrew Sunday School provided Jewish women with an unprecedented role in the public education of Jewish children. Staffed by local women, the school offered its own teacher training program and selected its faculty from among its own female graduates. Gratz herself served as the School's superintendent for more than a quarter-century. Philadelphia's most prominent male Jewish leader, Isaac Leeser, publicized the program in his national Jewish periodical and compiled educational textbooks for use in its classes.

Gratz's school was a success almost from the beginning. Over time, it opened branches across Philadelphia; by the end of the nineteenth century, the Hebrew Sunday School had served over 4,000 students. Even more importantly, the Philadelphia school offered a model to women in other cities. Similar schools were soon created in New York; Augusta, Georgia; Savannah; Richmond; Charleston; Baltimore and elsewhere. All of these schools sought guidance from Gratz and her co-workers. Moreover, Sunday School education, as introduced in Philadelphia in 1838, has continued, to this day, to provide the basic structure of supplemental Jewish education in the United States.

To learn more about Rebecca Gratz, visit Women of Valor or Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia.

See Also: Jewish Women "On the Map" - Rosenbach Museum and Library; Rebecca Gratz poster; Letter: Rebecca Gratz to Maria Fenno, 1805, Primary Sources & Lesson Plans; Rebecca Gratz in the Virtual Archive.

Sources:Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, pp. 547-550; jwa.org/exhibits/wov/gratz/rg13.html; Dianne Ashton, Rebecca Gratz: Women and Judaism in Antebellum America (1997); Karla Goldman, Beyond the Synagogue Gallery: Finding a Place for Women in American Judaism (2000), pp. 61-63.

Ann F. Lewis appointed National Chair of the Democratic Party's Women's Vote Center

February 4, 2002

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Ann F. Lewis speaking at St Anselms College, NH. Photo copyright Bob Jean, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Ann F. Lewis was appointed National Chair of the Democratic National Committee's Women's Vote Center on February 4, 2002. The Women's Vote Center is dedicated to educating and mobilizing women voters to help elect more Democrats to office at all levels of government.

Lewis has enjoyed a rich political career both before and after being appointed to this position. She had worked for or advised Boston Mayor Kevin White, Senators Barbara Mikulski and Birch Bayh, and presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. She had also worked as political director of the Democratic National Committee and as director of Americans for Democratic Action. Lewis served in the White House as Director of Communications from 1997-1999 and then as Counselor to President Bill Clinton. She was Director of Communications and Deputy Campaign Manager for the Clinton-Gore Re-Election Campaign in 1995-1996. She also served as Senior Advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton's U.S. Senate campaign in 2000. Lewis served as Director of Communications for Friends of Hillary, Senator Hillary Clinton's political action committee, and was active as a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. In June 2009, Lewis was honored with the inaugural National Jewish Democratic Council's Belle Moskowitz Award in Washington, D.C.

While at the White House, Lewis co-chaired the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American History. She has also served as a member of the Jewish Women's Archive's Board of Directors and as Chair of JWA's Honorary Committee for the Celebration of 350 Years of Jewish Women in North America.

To learn more about Ann F. Lewis, visit Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution.

See also: "The Belle of the Political Ball" and "Jewish Women and the Democratic National Committee," Jewsses with Attitude.

Sources: Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution, jwa.org/feminism/index.html?id=JWA049; query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res= 9B0DE3D8123BF93BA1575AC0A961948260.