[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 29, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E441-E442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      JEWISH WOMEN'S ARCHIVE MAKING VALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO OUR 
                        UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2000

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to represent 
a Congressional District that is home to an important cultural 
institution known as the Jewish Women's Archive. The organization, 
which is located in the town of Brookline, Massachusetts, was 
established in 1995 to record and publicize the remarkably rich history 
of Jewish women in North America. Among JWA's key projects are a 
``virtual archive'' that provides an on-line directory of source 
materials that are available on Jewish women in libraries and other 
facilities in the United States and Canada, and its Oral History 
Project, which is focused on the life stories of twentieth century 
Jewish women.
  Another important JWA initiative, which coincides annually with 
Women's History Month in March, is the ``Women of Valor'' program, an 
educational and outreach project aimed at helping the Jewish community 
and, indeed, people of all faiths in North America, to develop a better 
understanding of the accomplishments of Jewish women. Each year, JWA, 
in collaboration with Ma'ayan: The Women's History Project in New York, 
selects three Jewish women who have made notable contributions to our 
history, creates posters and other educational material providing 
details about their lives, and then disseminates the materials to more 
than 8,000 schools, libraries and other interested institutions. Past 
honorees have included Hadassah founder Henrietta Szold, trade union 
leader and social welfare activist Rose Schneiderman and poet Emma 
Lazarus. This year's Women of Valor are former Congresswoman Balla 
Abzug, anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff and Canadian track and field 
Olympian Bobbie Rosenfeld.
  I would add that, as part of Women's History Month, Joyce Antler--JWA 
Visiting Director of Research--made a presentation on March 22 before 
the President's Commission on the Celebration of Women in American 
History. Her testimony, which touched on many aspects of the role of 
women in history, cannot be reproduced here in toto, but I would like 
to excerpt one paragraph, because it sums up so well the important 
mission of JWA:

       I would like to mention one final strategy used by the 
     Jewish Women's Archive to bring women's history to the 
     public. Last spring, we mounted a program in Boston around 
     the life and legacy of Justine Wise Polier, the activist 
     judge who was a 1999 Woman of Valor. The evening began with 
     moderator Martha Minow of the Harvard Law School asking the 
     question, ``How can a woman so influential in her own 
     lifetime be largely forgotten less than two generations 
     later? And how does a legacy get passed on to another 
     generation?'' The evening began with my own remarks about 
     Polier's life and legacy, followed by personal reflections 
     from Nancy Gertner, a U.S. District Court Judge in 
     Massachusetts, who enthusiastically embraced the similarities 
     between her life and Polier's and left audience members 
     greatly stimulated by the current relevance of Polier's 
     concerns, convictions, and commitments. We have developed 
     other programs across the country in which we bring the past 
     to the present by matching the life and legacy of women of 
     achievement in other generations to those of women today. 
     These programs highlight historical materials that we have 
     collected but place them in new contexts that have local and 
     contemporary relevance. This matching process generates great 
     excitement by allowing audiences to connect in fresh ways to 
     the lessons of the past.

   Mr. Speaker, in recognition of the excellent work the Jewish Women's 
Archive performs in helping us to connect with the past in new ways, I 
submit the following JWA statement on this year's Women of Valor 
program to be printed in the Record.

   Schools, Synagogues, Universities and Jewish Community Center to 
Highlight Jewish Women's Contributions and Accomplishments for Women's 
                           History Month 2000

       In Boston and around the country, Jews and non-Jews, women 
     and men will have the opportunity to learn about the 
     important, but often-ignored accomplishments of Jewish women 
     during Women's History Month this March. This month, 
     thousands of institutions will celebrate Women's History 
     Month by showcasing the accomplishments and contributions of 
     three Jewish women: a leading political activist, a 
     pioneering anthropologist and a gold-medal winning Olympic 
     athlete.

[[Page E442]]

       While most Americans are familiar with political activist 
     Bella Abzug, few know about the accomplishments of 
     anthropologist Barbara Myerhoff and Canadian Olympic athlete 
     Bobbie Rosenfeld. All three women are featured in the year 
     2000 Women of Valor educational poster series produced by the 
     Jewish Women's Archive. In Boston, institutions such as 
     Temple Israel, the Leventhal Sidman JCC, Harvard Hillel and 
     dozens of other places will display the posters throughout 
     Women's History Month and conduct programs highlighting the 
     important role women have played in history. The posters are 
     complemented by a workbook featuring a biography of each 
     Woman of Valor, worksheets and suggested educational 
     activities. In addition, individuals can learn more through 
     an interactive multimedia Women of Valor exhibit on the 
     Jewish Women's Archive website at www.jwa.org. The unique and 
     innovative exhibit includes speeches, photographs, news 
     clips, letters and film clips from archives and libraries 
     throughout the country.
       ``History teaches us about who we are and where we have 
     been,'' said Gail Twersky Reimer, Executive Director of the 
     Jewish Women's Archive. ``For too long, the contributions of 
     Jewish women have been ignored. Each in her own way, Bella 
     Abzug, Barbara Myerhoff and Bobbie Rosenfeld changed our 
     world. Understanding their work and recognizing their 
     contributions enriches and completes our knowledge about the 
     past.''
       The Women of Valor poster series was created to increase 
     awareness of, and interest in, women's history and to 
     stimulate the development of programs that celebrate the 
     lives of Jewish women, past and present. The posters portray 
     their subjects in pictures and narrative, using each woman's 
     own words to create a compelling picture of her achievements 
     and the times in which she lived. Women of Valor posters and 
     accompanying educational materials have been sent to more 
     than 8,000 institutions and organizations throughout the 
     United States and Canada.
       Created in partnership with MIT's Center for Educational 
     and Computing Initiatives, the Jewish Women's Archive website 
     is the cornerstone of the Archive itself. It includes 
     interactive multimedia exhibits, an on-line database and 
     resources on North American Jewish women. This unique and 
     invaluable research tool is the first stage in the 
     development of a searchable Internet directory of all source 
     materials on Jewish women available in repositories 
     throughout the United States and Canada.
       Now in its third year, the Women of Valor Project is funded 
     by grants from the Covenant Foundation, Righteous Persons 
     Foundation and the Dobkin Foundation. In previous years, the 
     project has featured Glikl of Hamelin, Rose Schneideman and 
     Henrietta Szold (1997); Rebecca Gratz, Lillian Wald and Molly 
     Picon (1998); and Emma Lazarus, Justine Wise Polier and 
     Hannah Greenbaum Solomon (1999). Women's History Month was 
     designated by the United States Congress in 1987 to raise 
     awareness among students and adults, female and male, of the 
     many and diverse accomplishments women have made throughout 
     history.
       The Jewish Women's Archive was founded in 1995 to uncover, 
     chronicle and transmit the historical record of Jewish 
     women's lives--their impact on Jewish culture and their 
     active participation in society at large.
       One of our nation's leading political activists, Bella 
     Abzug (1920-1998) was a civil rights and labor attorney, a 
     U.S. Congresswoman, and an international women's rights 
     activist. As an attorney Abzug mounted an appeal on behalf of 
     an African American man sentenced to death on groundless 
     charges of raping a white woman, and defended numerous 
     clients during the infamous ``with hunts'' instigated by 
     Senator Joseph McCarthy. In Congress, she promoted an agenda 
     focused on social and economic justice. After leaving 
     Congress, Abzug continued to champion women's and civil 
     rights. She presided over the first National Women's 
     Conference in 1977 and worked with other women to found some 
     of the leading feminist organizations of our day.
       Barbara Myerhoff's (1935-1985) groundbreaking research into 
     American Jewry, their lives, culture and religion initiated a 
     sea change in the field of anthropology, leading other 
     anthropologists to expand from studying exotic communities in 
     foreign countries to studying communities in their ``own 
     backyards.'' Her work affected not only her fellow 
     anthropologists, but also helped a broad audience of men and 
     women understand the importance of storytelling to their own 
     lives. A creative and renowned professor and anthropologist, 
     Myerhoff won an Oscar for her film Number Our Days, based on 
     her 1979 book by the same name.
       One of Canada's most outstanding athletes, male or female, 
     Bobbie Rosenfeld (1904-1969) championed women's sports both 
     on and off the field. As a competitor in the first Olympic 
     Games to include women in 1928, Rosenfeld led her team to a 
     gold medal in the 400-meter relay and a silver medal in the 
     100 meter. Despite bouts of severe arthritis, Rosenfled led 
     her softball league in home runs and was voted outstanding 
     women hockey player in Ontario in 1931. When her arthritis 
     became too severe for her to compete, Rosenfeld began 
     coaching track and softball and eventually became a sports 
     columnist for the Toronto Globe and Mail.

     

                          ____________________