Media

Death of comedian Gilda Radner at 42

May 20, 1989

Gilda Radner's death from ovarian cancer on May 20, 1989 at age 42 cut short a vital life and comedic career.

Lily Winner publishes a defense of open immigration in "The Nation"

May 18, 1921

Writer, playwright, and activist Winner was a progressive voice for immigrants and immigration reform.

Jane Eisner appointed first female editor of "The Forward"

May 18, 2008

Trailblazing journalist Eisner breaks one more barrier, becoming the first woman editor of the country's largest Jewish newspaper.

Susan Sontag publishes last essay

May 23, 2004

Public intellectual and controversial essayist Susan Sontag published her last essay, "Regarding the Torture of Others," in the May 23, 2004, editio

Opera singer Roberta Peters is born

May 4, 1930

Soprano Roberta Peters had the longest tenure of any Metropolitan Opera soprano and has worked throughout her career to popularize opera.

Gladys Heldman launches "World Tennis Magazine"

May 13, 1953

Tennis player, promoter, and women's advocate Gladys Heldman published the inaugural issue of "World Tennis Magazine." a forum calling for equal status and opportunity for women athletes.

Aline Milton Bernstein Saarinen becomes first woman to head overseas US TV news bureau

April 13, 1971

Aline Milton Bernstein Saarinen became the first woman to head an overseas television news bureau when she became chief of the National

"American Jewess" Front Cover, November, 1896

"The American Jewess" begins publication

April 1, 1895

Published between April 1895 and August 1899, The American Jewess was the first English-language publication directed to American Jew

James Graham Phelps Stokes announces engagement to Rose Pastor

April 5, 1905

James Graham Phelps Stokes announced his engagement to Rose Pastor in a press conference on April 5, 1905.

The New York Times reports on naming ceremonies for Jewish girls

March 14, 1977

Noting that the new Reform Jewish prayerbook, published in February 1977, included a naming ceremony for baby girls for the first time, and that Ezrat Nashim a small feminist activist collective, was about to publish a booklet entitled “Blessing the Birth of a Daughter: Jewish Naming Ceremonies for Girls,” the New York Times reported on March 14, 1977, that such ceremonies were becoming common in all branches of Judaism.

The "New York Times" reports on Barbra Streisand's Broadway debut

March 23, 1962

"The evening's find is Barbra Streisand, a girl with an oafish expression, a loud irascible voice and an arpeggiated laugh.

Labor activist Rose Pesotta organizes in Akron, Ohio

February 25, 1936

In 1936, in the midst of nationwide union organizing drives, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) se

Claudia Dreifus speaks on the art of the political interview

February 9, 1999

Journalist Claudia Dreifus highlighted her expertise in a talk on the art of the political interview given at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Hannah Arendt at the University of Maryland, 1965

Hannah Arendt's "Eichmann in Jerusalem" appears in "The New Yorker"

February 16, 1963

When Hannah Arendt published her first article about Adolf Eichmann's war crimes trial in The New Yorker in its February 16, 1963 issue, s

Florence Prag Kahn elected as first Jewish woman in US Congress

February 17, 1925

As the wife of Julius Kahn, a US Representative from San Francisco, Florence Prag Kahn had developed her own public identity by writing a column on Washington doings for her hometown newspaper. When her husband died, she ran in a special Congressional election held on February 17, 1925.

Publication of "The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan

February 17, 1963

The publication of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, on February 17, 1963, is often cited as the founding moment of second-wave femin

Early music harpsichordist Wanda Landowska plays Bach at New York City's Town Hall

February 21, 1942

Born in Warsaw in 1879, Wanda Landowska studied piano at the Warsaw Conservatory, from which she graduated at age 14. In 1900, she moved to Paris, where she taught piano and performed.

Gertrude Berg in "Molly" as "Molly Goldberg"

Gertrude Berg's "The Goldbergs" premieres on television

January 10, 1949

Gertrude Berg's popular radio program, The Goldbergs, about an upwardly mobile American Jewish family moved to television on January 10, 1

April 24, 2009

Maira Kalman's Imaginary Best Friend Forever

Emily

I started off my Friday with some morning enlightenment from Maira Kalman's meditations on law and women breaking barriers—women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Sojourner Truth.

Topics: Art, Journalism

March 23, 2009

JWA on WBAI

Judith Rosenbaum

Barbara Glickstein, a loyal reader of JWA's This Week in History feature, also happens to have a weekly program on public health on WBAI in NYC. Last week, she decided to do a piece on one of her personal heroes, Lillian Wald, to commemorate Wald's March 10 birthday and Women's History Month.

Topics: Radio, Medicine

Abigail Van Buren

In 1990 alone, advice columnist “Dear Abby” and her staff received over fifty-five thousand letters from men and women of all ages, classes, nationalities, sexual orientations, and religions. Born Pauline Friedman, Van Buren was best known for the witty, commonsense advice she gave hundreds of millions of readers.

Jean Starr Untermeyer

Poet Jean Starr Untermeyer’s work was first influenced by her connections with writers Sara Teasdale, Amy Lowell, Carl Sandburg, and Robert Frost. Through her many volumes of published poetry and translations, Untermeyer explored her own personal tragedies and defended women’s right to use personal experience in their art.

Sophie Udin looking down at a sheet of paper with a large seal at the bottom

Sophie A. Udin

Sophie A. Udin fought for women's rights and equal pay, but she is best known for helping found the first libraries in Israel and creating important American archives about Zionism, helping preserve vital documents and making them accessible.

Barbara W. Tuchman

From a young age, Barbara W. Tuchman was engaged with contemporary international affairs. Her passion for research and engaging writing style won her two Pulitzer Prizes for her popular histories The Guns of August and Stilwell and the American Experience in China.

Film poster for Transparent, an American Comedy-Drama Series

Television in the United States

Jewish women have had a long-standing, complex, often fraught relation to American television. They have had to battle a male-dominated production system and sexist stereotypes, but also have seen significant advances, in front of and behind the screen, resulting from the cable and streaming revolutions and third-wave feminist activism.