The Yiddish Book Center's

Yiddish Book Center Recorded Programs

Lectures, events, and public programs recorded at the Yiddish Book Center

Immigration and Adaptation: Jewish Women of the Lower East Side, with Annie Polland

Annie Polland

About this program:

Immigration and Adaptation: Jewish Women of the Lower East Side, with Annie Polland

Featuring: Annie Polland

"Jewish Women of the World, Unite!" In 1908 a Yiddish newspaper summoned the Jewish immigrant women of New York's Lower East Side to unite—not to start a revolution but rather to observe the Sabbath. The Shabes Zhurnal, an effort led by Jewish rabbis and communal leaders, was chagrined at the blows immigration and adaptation had imposed on Jewish families and homed in on Jewish women as potential saviors. In this illustrated talk, drawing on cookbooks, memoirs, and advice columns, we'll look at the revolution of immigration and Americanization and how immigrant women creatively grappled with adaptation.

Dr. Annie Polland is the executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, former vice president for programs and education at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, and co-author, with Daniel Soyer, of the award-winning Emerging Metropolis: New York Jews in the Age of Immigration.

This program is co-sponsored by the American Jewish Historical Society.

This event took place on July 23, 2020. It was presented online by the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA.

This recording was digitized and added to the library in September 2022.

This recording is in English

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