Before Gloria: American Jewish Women on the Barricades, 1900-1960s

December 11th, 2019, 7:00 pm
Adas Israel Congregation
2850 Quebec Street NW
Washington, DC 20008

The Janice Garfunkel Memorial Lecture

Lecturer: Dr. Lauren Strauss

Explore American Jewish women’s activism in the early decades of the century, from campaigns to legalize birth control and control human trafficking, to establishing Jewish women as leaders of the labor movement, of rent strikes, and consumer protests, as well as Jewish women’s opposition to fascism in the 1930s and ‘40s.

Dr. Lauren B. Strauss is a professor of Modern Jewish History and Culture at American University in Washington, D.C. and lectures throughout the D.C. area. She has been a historical consultant and curator for museum exhibits on the history of the State of Israel, the history of Jews in America, and the history of the Washington, D.C. Jewish community. Her forthcoming book is Painting the Town Red: Jewish Visual Artists, Yiddish Culture, and Radical Politics in Interwar New York. She has also begun her next book, on the history of D.C.-area Jews and their political activism.

Rabbi Janice Garfunkel was a reform rabbi. A director of the Jewish Study Center in the 1990s and a valued member of many local communities, including Adas Israel and its Traditional Egalitarian Minyan. She passed away Oct. 25, 2013, leaving two young daughters, after a valiant battle with cancer. This memorial program, sponsored by the Jewish Study Center in conjunction with her friends and family, is intended as an ongoing tribute to the values she held dear.

Free of charge—refreshments! (F-7)