America’s Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today Presented by Professor Pamela Nadell Patrick Clenenden Chair in Women’s and Gender History, American University Wednesday, February 6 Monday, March 11 7:30 – 9 PM 7:30 – 9 PM At and co-sponsored by At and co-sponsored by JCC of Northern Virginia Kol Shalom 8900 Little River Turnpike, Fairfax, VA 22031 9110 Darnestown Rd., Rockville, MD 20850 In this groundbreaking history, Pamela Nadell asks what does it mean to be a Jewish woman in America? Weaving together stories from the colonial era’s matriarch, Grace Nathan, and her great-granddaughter, poet Emma Lazarus, to union organizer, Bessie Hillman, and the eminent Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Professor Nadell shows two threads binding the nation’s Jewish women: a strong sense of self and a resolute commitment to making the world a better place. Informed by the shared values of America’s founding and Jewish identity, America’s Jewish women – the well-known and the scores of activists, workers, wives, and mothers whose names linger on among their communities and families – left deep footprints in the history of the nation they called home. Pamela S. Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's and Gender History, chairs AU's Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies Collaborative, and is Director of the Jewish Studies Program. A specialist in American Jewish history and women’s history, she teaches a variety of courses in Jewish civilization. Her awards include AU’s highest faculty award, Scholar/Teacher of the Year (2007) and the American Jewish Historical Society’s Lee Max Friedman Award for distinguished service to the profession. Her books include Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination, 1889-1985 (Beacon Press, 1998), which was a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. Her new book America's Jewish Women: A History from Colonial Times to Today (W.W. Norton) will be published during Women's History Month in March 2019. Past president of the international learned society the Association for Jewish Studies, she lectures widely in the U.S., Europe, and Israel. Her consulting work for museums includes the Library of Congress and the National Museum of American Jewish History on Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. There is no charge for this event, however pre-registration is recommended at www.HabermanInstitute.org This program is presented in collaboration with Hadassah of Greater Washington. .