Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

Happy Women’s History Month

T

his month, we celebrate 
the achievements of 
women in America. 
Since 1995, U.S. presidents have 
declared March 
as Women’s 
History Month, 
and March 8 as 
International 
Women’s Day. 
This month also 
marks the 100th 
year anniversary 
of the first bat 
mitzvah in the United States. 
I decided to explore the 
topic of local Women’s Days in 
the William Davidson Digital 
Archive of Jewish Detroit 
History. Beyond a celebratory 
day, the evidence of women’s 
progress over the last hundred 
years is readily apparent as one 
reads the reports and stories in 
the JN and Jewish Chronicle. This 
is not to say that there isn’t more 
work to be done toward gender 
equality, but the role of women, 
especially since the 1960s and 
1970s, has been radically trans-
formed in America and Jewish 

Detroit. Women have increas-
ingly entered the public arena 
as leaders in politics, civic and 
communal organizations, and 
religion.
The first widely recognized 
day to celebrate women was 
National Woman’s Day in 1909. 
It was subsequently designated 
International Woman’s Day 
and later became International 
Women’s Day. Moreover, accord-
ing to recent research, it was a 
Jewish woman who proposed 
the idea that holds until today. 
Russian-born Theresa 
Malkiel was a Jewish labor 
activist in New York City. She 
had immigrated to America 
with her family in 1891 and 
began working in the city’s gar-
ment industry. It was an era of 
low pay, long hours, dangerous 
work and few protections for 
workers. The worst example 
of such abysmal working con-
ditions was witnessed in 1911. 
That year, the famous Triangle 
Shirtwaist Factory experienced 
a massive fire that killed 146 
people including 123 women 

and girls who had been locked 
into their work area by the fac-
tory bosses.
Malkiel became an activist, 
educator, writer and vocal 
proponent for women’s equal-
ity and suffrage. In 1909, she 
proposed the first National 
Woman’s Day. It grew into a 
globally celebrated event long 
before the United Nations 
adopted International Women’s 
Day (IWD) in 1977. 
The Davidson Archive holds 
some reports about IWD cele-
brations in Jewish Detroit. Early 
announcements, for example, 
cite the Pioneer Women’s 
Organization holding celebra-
tions of IWD in the 1940s. 
What I really found interest-
ing, however, were the various 
other Women’s Days held by 
local Jewish organizations. 
The Cohn-Haddow Center for 
Judaic Studies at Wayne State 
University, in partnership with 
the Jewish Federation of Metro 
Detroit and Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek, held a Jewish 
Women’s Day of Learning in 

2016. The keynote speaker was 
Rabbi Carole Balin. A female 
rabbi is also an example of 
women’s progress (May 5, 2016, 
JN). This event followed many 
years of Federation-sponsored 
Women’s Day of Learning 
events in the 1990s and 2000s 
— with many partners, such as 
the JN.
I also enjoyed the Women’s 
Day announcement from 
Fiddler International Dining 
on Orchard Lake Road in 
March 2001. In a celebration 
dedicated to IWD, the Fiddler 
sponsored a female voice 
contest where diners could 
vote for their favorite singer 
(March 2, 2001, JN).
My wife, Pam, tells me that 
“every day is a woman’s day.
” I 
believe her, of course (could I 
do otherwise?). The proof of 
this is in the Davidson Archives. 
Happy Women’s History 
Month. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN 
Foundation archives, available for 
free at www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

62 | MARCH 24 • 2022 

