By Ella Jordan-Smith Reference Services Librarian, Center for Jewish History Building a Jewish Union and the ILGWU In 1900, eleven delegates representing seven major local unions in the Northeast convened to form the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. All eleven of these delegates were Jewish men (the “ladies” in the organization’s name refers to the garments, not the constituency) who represented unions composed of primarily…
By Zachary Loeb It is hard to think about Jewish food without thinking of the humble bagel, which has long been a staple of the Jewish culinary experience. And though the bagel has been known to occasionally be a subject of heated disagreement – families have been torn apart amidst fierce debates over whether the Montreal bagel is superior to the New York bagel…
All images: Collection of Yeshiva University Museum A sizeable portion of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who streamed into New York at the turn of the 20th century found work in the city’s expanding garment industry. Although only about 10% were actual trained tailors, many Jewish immigrants held experience in both producing clothing–since the garment industry in Russia was one of the only businesses open to Jews–and held industrial…
by Ilana Rossoff, Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History This post is part of the Jews and Social Justice Series. To view all posts in the series, click here. At the same time that they were coordinating post-war refugee relief in Europe, Jewish Labor Committee members began to take an active role in supporting African-American-led efforts to advocate for civil rights legislation. According to…
by Ilana Rossoff, Reference Services Research Intern, Center for Jewish History This post is part of the Jews and Social Justice Series. To read the introduction to the series, click here. The Jewish Labor Bund was a unique and memorable force in European Jewish communal and political history. Established in Vilna in 1897, the General Jewish Labor Bund was originally conceived as a vehicle…
