Week of October 27

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October 27, 1957

Dr. Joyce Brothers wins $64,000 for boxing expertise

October 27, 1994

Judith R. Shapiro inaugurated president of Barnard College

October 28, 2000

Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act becomes Law

October 29, 1945

Anna Rosenberg, first woman to receive Medal of Freedom

November 1, 1961

Women strike for peace

November 2, 1883

Emma Lazarus writes "The New Colossus"

November 2, 1970

Bella Abzug elected to Congress

November 2, 1975

"Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape" conquers the "Washington Post"

 

October 27, 1957

Dr. Joyce Brothers wins $64,000 for boxing expertise

Psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers put her boxing trivia to the test and came away with $64,000 on October 27, 1957. Brothers, who was appearing on the game show The $64,000 Challenge, took the top prize, competing against a team of seven boxers on boxing lore. This was her second time winning the program’s top prize—two years earlier she had claimed her first victory (when the show was called The $64,000 Question), also on the subject of boxing.

Brothers’ winning appearance not only garnered her a substantial prize, but also sparked her career as a talk-show psychologist. After her appearance on Challenge, Brothers was picked to co-host WATV’s show, Sports Showcase. In 1958, NBC offered Brothers her own talk show, The Dr. Joyce Brothers Show. The show, which counseled viewers on childrearing, marriage, and sex, was an instant success and soon became syndicated nationally. Brothers soon became a ubiquitous media presence offering her psychological expertise on numerous talk shows and often appearing as a celebrity guest on a variety of game shows.

In 1963, Brothers began writing a monthly column for Good Housekeeping. She also writes a daily column that is published in more than 350 newspapers, and has written several books, including What Every Woman Should know About Men (1982) and How to Get Whatever You Want Out of Life (1978). Her most personal and popular work was Widow (1990), which described Brothers’ emotional journey after the death of her husband in 1989 after thirty-nine years of marriage.

Sources: New York Times, December 7, 1955, Oct. 28, 1957; Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, pp.190-192.

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October 27, 1994

Judith R. Shapiro inaugurated president of Barnard College

Judith R. Shapiro, a widely respected cultural anthropologist who has done pioneering research on gender differences, was inaugurated as president of Barnard College on October 27, 1994.

Dr. Shapiro came to Barnard after eight years as provost of Bryn Mawr College where she had taught in the department of anthropology since 1975. Before that, she was the first woman to teach anthropology at the University of Chicago.

Shapiro became president of a school that owed its initial existence to another Jewish woman, Annie Nathan Meyer. Meyer had petitioned, lobbied and raised funds for the creation of Barnard, as a woman's college associated with Columbia College, back in 1889 (see This Week in History for October 7, 1889).

Dr. Shapiro retired in June 2008.

Sources: Barnard College letter to JWA, March 2004; www.barnard.edu/newnews/news041007.html; www.barnard.edu/newnews/news052108d.html.

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October 28, 2000

Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act becomes Law

The Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act introduced by Illinois Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky became law on October 28, 2000. This act works to assist immigrants who are victims of domestic violence by providing legal protections that can aid them in escaping violent situations and securing court protection.

Immigrant women are particularly vulnerable because they often must rely on the legal residence status of their abusers. The Battered Immigrant Women Protection Act helps immigrant victims of domestic violence take control of their lives without fear of deportation.

Jan Schakowsky was elected to represent the 9th Congressional District of Illinois in 1998 after eight years of service in the Illinois State Assembly. Throughout her political career, Schakowsky has worked for economic and social justice, sought an end to violence against women, and worked for a national investment in healthcare, public education and housing needs.

Sources: www.house.gov/schakowsky/bio.shtml; e-mail from Representative Schakowsky's office to JWA, March 2004.

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October 29, 1945

Anna Rosenberg, first woman to receive Medal of Freedom

Acclaimed for her talents as a labor mediator, diplomat, adviser, troubleshooter, and administrator, Anna Rosenberg became the first woman to receive the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award offered by the United States, on October 29, 1945.

Born in Budapest in 1899, Rosenberg immigrated with her family to the United States in 1912. She began her political career by managing New York City alderman and assemblyman campaigns during the 1920s. In the 1930s, Rosenberg advised and coordinated several Democratic congressional campaigns and served in the New Deal administration as a regional director for the National Recovery Administration (1935) and on the Social Security Board (1936-1943). In the process, she became a trusted advisor to both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

During World War II, she served on the New York State War Council and, in 1944, served as Roosevelt’s personal representative in Europe. In 1945, she undertook a study of European military personnel problems as an advisor to Truman.

Further recognition and achievement followed the Medal of Freedom honor. In 1946, she won the Congressional Medal of Honor and in 1947, she became the first woman to be awarded the United States Medal for Merit. In 1950, she was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense, the highest position ever held up until that time by a woman in the United States military establishment. Her main task as Assistant Secretary of Defense was to coordinate the Defense Department's manpower, which had been divided among many different agencies.

Rosenberg was also involved in many Jewish causes, including serving as the director of the Women's Division of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.

Sources: Jewish Women in America, pp. 1171-1174; http://www.nps.gov/elro/glossary/rosenberg-hoffman-anna.htm; www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ARosenberg.html.

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November 1, 1961

Women strike for peace

On November 1, 1961, Women Strike For Peace (WSP) was inaugurated with a day-long strike by an estimated 50,000 women in 60 cities, all pressing for nuclear disarmament. The organization was composed primarily of mothers who feared the effects of nuclear proliferation on the short- and long-term health of their children. They were particularly concerned with levels of irradiation in milk and the increase in nuclear testing. WSP had the slogan “End the Arms Race – Not the Human Race,” as well as “Pure Milk, Not Poison.”

Bella Abzug joined the group in its early organizational stages as an active participant in the New York contingent and as creator and chairperson of WSP’s legislative committee. By pushing the organization to incorporate legislative lobbying into its efforts, she helped it to become an effective political force. By 1964, the emphasis of Women Strike for Peace had shifted to focus as much on the Vietnam War as on disarmament, protesting against the draft and the war’s effects on Vietnamese children. Abzug remained active in WSP until she was elected to Congress in 1970.

Sources: Amy Swerdlow, Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s (Chicago, 1993); http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ28-WomenforPeace.html.

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November 2, 1883

Emma Lazarus writes "The New Colossus"

A manuscript copy of Emma Lazarus's famous sonnet, “The New Colossus,” bears the date November 2, 1883. She wrote the poem for an art auction, “In Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund.” The Statue of Liberty, designed by sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, was erected on October 28, 1886. It was given to the people of the United States by France in recognition of the friendship between the two nations established during the American Revolution. While France provided the statue itself, American fundraising efforts were required to pay for the pedestal. In 1903, sixteen years after Lazarus's death, “The New Colossus” was engraved on a plaque and placed in the pedestal as a memorial.

In the 1880s, a wave of anti-Semitic pogroms across Eastern Europe prompted a massive Jewish flight to America. During this time, Lazarus, who was already a well-known poet, became involved in visiting Russian refugees and volunteering for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Inspired by the suffering and fortitude of these immigrants, Lazarus used her literary prominence to call attention to the scourge of anti-Semitism and to become an early American spokesperson for a Zionist solution to Jewish persecution. Her concern for the history of Jewish suffering and the continued plight of many immigrants found expression in "The New Colossus," among other powerful works.

Lazarus's famous lines in “The New Colossus,” “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” were not originally part of the Statue and were obscured in the years after Lazarus’ death in 1887. It was the efforts of her friend Georgina Schuyler that resulted in Lazarus’ lines being inscribed on a plaque affixed within the statue’s pedestal in 1903. In 1945, the plaque was moved to the Statue’s main entrance hall.

Over time, Lazarus' words caught the national imagination and became indelibly associated with the meaning of the Statue and with the American ideal of liberty. They continue to inspire the way Americans think about freedom and exile. Cited frequently, including at the 2004 Republican National Convention, “The New Colossus” continues to symbolize America's promise of opportunity and freedom to the “huddled masses” of every land.

See This Week in History for November 19, 1887 and August 3, 1944.

Sources: jwa.org/exhibits/wov/lazarus; jwa.org/discover/throughtheyear/november/patriotism/liberty/index.html; www.350th.org/exhibit01/index.html.

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November 2, 1970

Bella Abzug elected to Congress

On November 2, 1970, Bella Abzug was elected to the United States House of Representatives on a proudly feminist, anti-war, environmentalist platform, becoming the second Jewish woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress. Abzug went on to represent her Manhattan district for three terms in the House, quickly becoming a nationally known legislator with a reputation for fighting for social and economic justice. Famous for big hats, hard work, and strong positions, Abzug didn’t mind being called “impatient, impetuous, uppity, rude, profane, brash and overbearing,” as long as people understood that “whatever I am...I am a very serious woman.”

Her congressional tenure was as productive as it was controversial. She was the chair of the Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights, where she co-authored the Freedom of Information Act and the Right to Privacy Act. She was a vigilant sponsor of the Equal Rights Amendment and continually struggled to pass legislation on issues like childcare and abortion. Abzug was also a committed environmentalist and co-authored the Water Pollution Act of 1972. In 1974, she introduced the first Federal bill to support gay and lesbian civil rights; she was also one of the first members of Congress to call for the impeachment of President Nixon. Abzug claimed that she spent her days "figuring out how to beat the machine and knock the crap out of the political power structure."

Before being elected to Congress, Abzug spent 25 years as a lawyer, specializing in labor and tenants’ rights, and in civil rights and liberties cases. During the McCarthy era she was one of the few attorneys willing to fight against the House Un-American Activities Committee. In the 1960s, Abzug helped start the nationwide Women Strike for Peace in response to U.S. and Soviet nuclear testing, and she soon became an important voice against the Vietnam war. After her terms in the House, President Carter appointed her co-chair of the National Advisory Commission for Women. In her later years, Abzug became an important leader in the international women’s rights movement, and was vocal in her support of Israel. Abzug was co-creator and president of WEDO, the Women’s Environmental and Development Organization.

See This Week in History for November 18, 1977 and September 12, 1995.

Sources: http://www.jwa.org/exhibits/wov/abzug/; Ellen Goodman, “They Don’t Make Them Like Bella Anymore,” Boston Globe, April 2, 1998.

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November 2, 1975

"Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape" conquers the "Washington Post"

The October 1975 publication of journalist and activist Susan Brownmiller’s treatise Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape recast public understandings and debate on rape and helped to influence both American and international legal definitions of the crime.

This impact was reflected in four different articles published in the Washington Post on November 2, 1975. The Post on that day offered a (critical) review of the book in its book review section and three related articles on the front page of its Style section. One of the articles described the complexity of a specific rape case, one took on the question of “Rape: A New Definition” and one considered “... the Lives and Concerns of Susan Brownmiller.” As these articles suggest, both Brownmiller and her book received extensive coverage including front-page reviews, an interview with the author on The Today Show, and her inclusion as one of the 12 women recognized by Time magazine as its 1975 “Man of the Year.”

Brownmiller’s powerful analysis of rape grew from her involvement in the feminist movement as a journalist (she chronicled the movement in an influential March 15, 1970 article in the New York Times Magazine) and as an activist. Growing attention to rape and violence within women’s movement speak-outs, conferences, and publications, sparked Brownmiller’s interest in devoting systematic study to the subject. At the same time, publishers, following the growth of women’s liberation within the media, were actively seeking books on feminism to meet a growing public demand. One result was Simon and Schuster's heavy promotion of Brownmiller's provocative book and its inclusion as a Book-of-the-Month Club main selection.

The publication of Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape brought rape to the national agenda and into American consciousness. Brownmiller’s stark claim – that all men benefited from rape because its pervasive threat kept all women subordinated – proved revolutionary to many. There was nothing comforting in an historical analysis that indicted society for protecting rapists and contributing to the further humiliation of rape victims. Yet, Brownmiller’s book, which briefly appeared on the bestseller lists, appeared at a moment when new questions raised by the women’s movement were able to find their way into the mainstream.

In subsequent decades, prosecutors, activists, and academics concerned with rape have all credited Brownmiller’s work with leading to profound transformations in legal and social understandings of rape. Acquaintance rape has been recognized; women have been more likely to report rape; rape crisis centers have become more common; laws that made it difficult to prosecute rape or that refused to recognize marital rape have been overturned.

The transformation in public understanding of rape from an expression of sexuality to an expression of power, that grew from Brownmiller’s work, continues to echo in American and international public policy. Brownmiller described rape in wartime as a “weapon of terror,” but showed how it had long been understood as part of the “regrettable” but “inevitable” disorder that accompanied battle. One clear measure of Brownmiller’s continuing impact is reflected in the 2002 ruling by the International Criminal Court that rape in the context of war constitutes a war crime and a crime against humanity.

Sources: Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (New York, 1975); In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution (New York, 1999); Washington Post, November 2, 1975; “Sisterhood is Powerful,” New York Times Magazine, March 15, 1970; New York Times, March 19, 1970, August 17, 1970, October 16, 1975, February 25, 1990, April 21, 1991, December 12, 1991, December 21, 1975; Jewish Women and the Feminist Revolution, jwa.org/feminism/index.html?id=JWA008.

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