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Jewish Immigration Out West |
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Exhibit Panel Correlation: "Immigration Waves and Communal Growth" Ohio Standards Correlation: History Standard: Grade 8, Point 8 |
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| INTRODUCTION
The period from 1654-1825 is considered the "Beginning of American Judaism." New Amsterdam (in 1664 it became New York) was the first Jewish community in America. The Jewish immigrants at that time were "Sephardic" Jews, which means they came from Spain and Portugal. Not long after these Sephardic Jews came to the American colonies, they were joined by "Ashkenazic" Jews, which means Jews from Germany and Europe. In the 1600s, European Jews were typically merchants and traders. In 1664, the British took control of the Dutch colonies and split the land into New York and New Jersey. In England, naturalization required proof that one was Protestant. In the colonies, however, naturalization was made easier in order to encourage trade. The 1776 Treaty of Breda gave full rights of trade, worship, and other rights to the settlers, including Jews. The 1970 Naturalization Act made becoming a citizen even easier, not requiring affirming Protestantism as one's faith. Different colonies had different laws regarding the free practice of one's faith. As late as 1773, there were only thirty Jewish families in New York. These Jews have been compared to the Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620. Both groups wanted freedom of religion, but the pilgrims came by choice and were in better financial shape. While the pilgrims wanted a colony of their own, the Jews wanted to live among other colonists. It was common for individuals from Europe to indenture themselves to those in the New World to pay for their passage over. Few Jews opted for this system. The first Jews who came to New Amsterdam had been expelled from their countries and came with few business and financial arrangements. During the American Revolution, most Jews supported independence from Britain, but there were Jews fighting on both sides. Approximately 100 Jews served in the military on the American side. The Constitution said that American would not deny any religious group full citizenship. Between 1790 and 1820, the population of the United States grew from 3.9 million to 9.6 million. After the end of the wars in Europe in 1815, the flow of immigration that had been so often cut off in the preceding forty years resumed, and many Jews were among the immigrants. Even though more Jews were coming to America, until the 1830s they were mostly individuals and isolated families in a random movement to emigrate. The first mass migration of Jews to America did not occur until 1836. This was a movement of whole families, and groups of families from a single locality or country. 1840, there were about 15,000 Jews in America. By 1850, the number had increased to 50,000. By 1860, there were 150,000 Jews in America. By 1880, 250,000 Jews lived in this country. These new immigrants came without important business connections and were generally very poor. Many of them became peddlers in the cities and countryside, and many left the Eastern Seaboard cities to explore inland. They peddled in the South, beyond the Appalachians, in the Midwest and Far West, where Jews were among the first settlers in many towns. Where they could, they established clothing, dry goods stores, and general stores. They arrived when the country as a whole was expanding and they followed its routes. The Westward Expansion movement in America opened up opportunities for all different settlers, including Jews. The Erie Canal opened in 1825, and Jews traveled along it to Buffalo, New York. From there, they went further inland. Some Jews even became prospectors in the Rockies. As with other Americans, Jews joined in the gold rush of 1849 as well. Understanding the wider American history helps place American Jewish history within its context, and learning the story of American Jews highlights certain trends in American history and sheds light on how one diverse people effected and were affected by their surroundings and events of the day. |
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PRE-EXHIBIT ACTIVITIES Divide the class into seven groups. There are seven different document sections below that correspond to the museum exhibit. Give each group the background information for their document(s) located at the end of this lesson plan. The information includes written summaries of the major people and events represented in the exhibit, as well as additional documents and websites. Each group should read the summaries and take notes from the websites provided. They should also be given the two websites listed at the end of this lesson guide for general American Jewish history information. They should present to the class through posters, a rap, a skit, or by other means the major people and events with which the class should be familiar before they go to the museum. After the seven groups have made their presentations (they could research and make their presentations during one class and present during the next class), ask the students any of the following questions to make sure the information was synthesized: 1. What were the Jews who were coming in during colonial days hoping to find in America? Were their hopes any different than those of any other immigrant in America, even today? |
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EXHIBIT ACTIVITIES Copy the summaries that are included at the end of this lesson plan so that students can carry them throughout the museum. This way, they can quickly refer back to who these people were and what was going on at this time. Answer the following questions as you go through the exhibit. It would be helpful for the students to walk around in pairs so that they can pool their resources and answer the questions aloud to each other. Group 1: Indenture Certificate Group 2: Pre-Printed Document Used for Shipping Signed by Aaron Lopez Group 3: Fancy's Sketch Book (in separate case), Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim, Ketubah (Jewish Marriage Contract) Group 4: Isaac Bernheim, Pioneer News Depot of Arizona, Mansfeld's News Shop Group 5: Receipt from H. Oppenheimer's Dry Goods Store, Advertisement for Levi Strauss Products, Strauss Factory Group 6: Russian Jewish Farming Settlement, Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School, Potato Harvesting, Convention Booklet Group 7: Jacob Schiff letter, Immigrants waiting to be Processed |
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POST-EXHIBIT ACTIVITIES During the exhibit, tell the students to pick one image that particularly strikes them. They should take notes about the image and describe it in their own words or even sketch it on paper. For homework, they should write a dialogue or conversation that is occurring if more than one person is in the image. Alternatively, they should write a monologue if it is one person. If it is of a building or scene, they should write as if the walls could talk about what is going on in the building or the scene. If there are anonymous people in the image, they should make up names and personas for them. They should focus on what was happening at that time in history, what they know about the person or building, and then use their own creativity to fill in in the missing details. It can be funny or serious, but it should represent the person, period and place. For students who have the ability and access to conduct research, give them the following guidelines for information to include about American history that correspond to their exhibit artifacts: Indenture Certificate: Information about indentured servants in American history. Additional Resources Websites with an Overview of American Jewish History: Time line of Jewish history in America Bibliography Glazer, Nathan, American Judaism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972. GROUP 1 1776-1830: Early National Period The Famous Gratz Family! From the Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM: "The Gratz family came to the United States led by patriarch BARNARD GRATZ (1738-1801), who was of Polish birth and who emigrated from London in 1754. After working in the mercantile house of David Franks, in 1757 he went into partnership with Michael Moses, and a few years later he and his younger brother MICHAEL (1740-1811) formed a long-lived partnership under the family name as shippers and traders operating on the east coast and inland. As part of their trading operation, the partners sold kosher meat to the West Indies and conducted an extensive and sometimes dangerous Indian trade. In the midst of a very busy social and business career, Barnard, with other merchants, signed Non-Importation Agreements to boycott British goods during the Stamp Act and Townshend Act crises prior to the Revolution. Always deeply involved with Jewish communal activities, the brothers helped found the first Philadelphia synagogue, which in 1773 evolved into Congregation Mikveh Israel. The Gratz family supported the Revolution, as did many Philadelphia Jews, and supplied goods to the Continental Army. After the war, the Gratzes became involved in a successful struggle for equal rights in Pennsylvania. Two of Michael's sons, SIMON (1773-1839) and HYMAN (1776-1857), carried on the family business. Hyman was elected director of the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance in 1818 and president in 1838. He founded Gratz College. Perhaps the best known of the Gratz family was Michael's daughter REBECCA (1781-1869). She is reputed to have been the model for Rebecca in Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. Energetic in social welfare as in her friendships and her inveterate letter writing, she aided in founding the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society (1819), the Hebrew Sunday School Society (1838), and the Philadelphia Jewish Foster Home (1815) and worked with these organizations for many years." Newport, Rhode Island Virtual Jewish history tour of Rhode Island "Newport, Rhode Island is the historic home to one of the oldest and certainly most influential Jewish communities in early American history. Jewish men and women arrived in Newport as early as 1658 and by the time of the American Revolution they grew to a population of over thirty families. Their rich and varied lives greatly contributed to the ideals of religious freedom and open commerce that would become the hallmarks of the emerging nation. With the family names of Lopez, Levy, Rivera, Seixas, deToro (Touro), Gomez and Hays, these men and women represented the merging of old and new worlds through the tradition and culture of colonial Sephardic Jewry. Aaron Lopez and his family arrived in Newport around 1750 from New York via Lisbon, Portugal. Lopez arrived in the new world as a member of a "Marrano" (converted to Christianity during the Spanish Inquisition but remained secretly Jewish) family with the Christian name of "Don Duarte Lopez." Lopez immediately dropped his Christian name and took the Hebrew name of Aaron and submitted to ritual circumcision. Within twenty years, Lopez owned or had interests in over 80 sailing vessels. Lopez was also one of the original founders and contributors of Touro Synagogue and by the end of his life was recognized as one of the "Merchant Princes" of early America. His merchant trading interests included rum, molasses, dry goods and African slaves. Penina Moise, Fancy's Sketch Book, South Carolina Article on the Jews of South Carolina Early History Most of the early Jewish settlers of South Carolina seem to have come from London or the English colonies, and some of them appear to have been connected with the Barbados trade in rum and sugar. A "Jewish" Company "During the Revolutionary war Jews of South Carolina were found on both sides. Francis Salvador was a delegate to the Second Provincial Congress, which met in 1775-76 and in which South Carolina was declared an independent state. Most (nearly 40 out of 60) of the members of the Charleston company of militia commanded by Richard Lushington were Jews, for it was drawn chiefly from the district in which they lived. This gave rise to the tradition of an entirely Jewish regiment, or company, fighting in behalf of the Revolution. One of them, Joseph Solomon, was killed at the battle of Beaufort, 1779, and another, David Cardozo, distinguished himself in the attempt to recapture Savannah. Among those who petitioned General Lincoln to surrender Charleston, in May, 1780, were several of the prominent Jews of the town; and during its occupation by Sir Henry Clinton several Jews proved their "loyalty," being reported favorably by a committee appointed by Clinton. The majority, however, were on the "patriot" side, and left Charleston after the surrender. They returned in 1783, several of them becoming auctioneers or brokers. It is recorded that Meyer Moses succored the American wounded, while Mordecai Meyers furnished supplies for the colonial army. The internal affairs of Jews in South Carolina centered in Congregation Beth Elohim Unveh Shalom, founded in 1750 for the Sephardic Jews of Charleston. It would appear that another congregation, formed by Jews of German ancestry, and also called Beth Elohim, came into existence somewhat later. Largest American Congregation in 1800 Owing to the liberal constitution of South Carolina and the fortunate position of the Jews of Charleston, by 1800 that city had the largest Jewish population in North America. Beth Elohim had 107 contributing members in that year, and 125 members two years later. The most distinguished member of the community in the early part of that century was Meyer Moses. He was a member of the legislature in 1810, and commissioner of free schools later. Jews in South Carolina were the first to reveal Reform Jewish tendencies (the idea that changes should be made in Jewish worship that would be more modern and American). In 1824 twenty-seven members of Congregation Beth Elohim of Charleston petitioned the vestry for the use of English in the prayers, and for their shortening, as well as for the preaching of English sermons. On the rejection of the petition a number of the petitioners resigned and organized the Reform Society of Israelites. A second split in the congregation, for a similar reason, took place in 1840, owing to the attempted introduction of the organ into the service, and a new congregation was formed, known as Shearith Israel. Penina Moise GROUP 4 Central European Jews Come to America: Western Expansion! Move out West! www.museumofteamericanwest.org/explore/exhibits/jewish_life/index.html Many new Jewish immigrants tended to live in cities like New York and Philadelphia. Some were itinerant peddlers, traveling from place to place. However, there were a significant proportion of Jews from Central Europe who set out to seek their fortunes in the wide-open land from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Ocean. There was a need for settlers on the frontier, and since many of the Jewish immigrants were peddlers. traveling with their wares, the frontier offered great opportunities! Some of the Jewish immigrants arrived from Europe to the port of New Orleans and stayed. Others continued up the Mississippi River. They settled in the cotton market towns of Memphis and Tennessee or in mill towns like Natchez and Vicksburg, Mississippi, and Shreveport, Louisiana. A small number of Jewish merchants settled in Texas in the 1820s and 1830s and in New Mexico in the 1840s. Isaac Bernheim From the Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM "BERNHEIM, ISAAC WOLFE (1848-1945), U.S. distiller and philanthropist. Bernheim was born in Schmieheim, Baden, Germany. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1867 and settled in Paducah, Kentucky, where he worked as a salesman and bookkeeper. In 1872 Bernheim, together with a brother, established a distillery. The business was moved to Louisville, Ky., in 1882, and became one of the most important in the country. Bernheim made several gifts to public causes. In 1889 he organized the first YMHA in Louisville and contributed its first home. He contributed to Hebrew Union College its first library building (1912), and later helped subsidize its second. Other benefactions included an addition to the Louisville Jewish Hospital (1916), sculpture for Louisville and the Statuary Hall in Washington, a 13,000-acre nature reserve near Louisville, and gifts to the village of his birth. Bernheim was rigid and autocratic in temperament. Particularly hostile to Zionism (the idea of a Jewish home in Israel), in 1918 he addressed a letter to the Central Conference of American Rabbis urging the founding of a 'Reform Church of American Israelites' to consist of '100 percent Americans.' In a 1921 address to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, of which he was a vice-president and for over 40 years a member of the executive board, he called for a Sunday Sabbath and argued that the terms 'Jew and Judaism' were a 'reservoir from which is fed the perennial spring of hatred, malice, and contempt.' Likewise he urged that foreign terms such as 'temple' and 'synagogue' strengthened the accusation that the Jews were a 'foreign and indigestible element.' From 1906 to 1921 Bernheim was treasurer of the American Jewish Committee. He wrote two autobiographical works, Bernheim Family (1910) and Closing Chapters of a Busy Life (1929). He also wrote History of the Settlement of the Jews in Paducah and the Lower Ohio Valley (1912)" GROUP 5 Jewish history of San Francisco Levi Strauss: Strauss was a garment manufacturer and philanthropist. A native of Bavaria, Germany, Strauss followed his two brothers to New York in 1848. In 1850, during the gold rush, he started a dry goods business in Sacramento, California. Three years later, in San Francisco, he began to manufacture pants from blue denim, reinforced with copper rivets, which under the trademark "Levis" became popular with gold miners. They were taken up by Western farmers, and as the years went by were sold to an ever-widening public. By the mid-20th century they were being marketed all over the world. Strauss, a bachelor, took first his brothers, then his brother-in-law, David Stern, and finally the latter's four sons into partnership in Levi Strauss & Co. History of Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco "When intrepid Jews journeyed around the Horn or overland in 1848 as part of the migration west, little did they imagine that they would be helping to found one of the most dynamic Jewish communities in America. San Francisco--the city that sparked the imagination of a nation--is the home of Northern California's landmark temple, Congregation Emanu-El. Officially established in 1850, the congregation has over 2,100 households, many of whom have been involved with the congregation since its founding, the oldest congregation west of the Mississippi. The congregation's commitment to helping the secular community began as far back as 1849-1850. The Eureka Benevolent Society, which in a few years became the largest Jewish organization in the West (Jewish Family and Children's Services), was formed by many who became active at Temple Emanu-El. The first two presidents of Emanu-El were local officeholders and Jews were part of California State government, serving in the State Assembly, on the State Supreme Court and in other key positions." GROUP 6 Agricultural Settlements Woodbine Jewish Agricultural Colony "The late 19th century was a period of transition and change for Eastern European Jewry. Pogroms (violence against Jews), harsh restrictions and the deterioration of their economic situation led many Jews to leave Europe. Some of these immigrants were inspired by the idealism of the Russian socialist Am Olam movement, which aimed to create Jewish agricultural settlements. About 24 settlements directly inspired by Am Olam were founded in America in the early 1880s. The largest and most durable Am Olam settlements were located in New Jersey. The founding of Woodbine in 1891 was unique in that the sponsors, the Baron de Hirsch Fund, envisioned a mix of industry and agriculture. The addition of an industrial component to the economy was a key factor in the growth and development of Woodbine, which, in 1903, became the first Jewish borough to be incorporated in America." GROUP 7 Galveston Project Jewish history of Texas From http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/GG/umg1.html "GALVESTON MOVEMENT. The Galveston Movement operated between 1907 and 1914 to divert Jews fleeing the pogroms (violence against Jews) of Russia and eastern Europe away from congested communities of the Atlantic coast to the interior of the United States. The Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau directed the movement as a means of preventing an anticipated wave of antisemitism on the Eastern seaboard, which might lead to immigration restrictions. Several benevolent groups tried to find a southern port of entry to disperse the burgeoning population. Groundwork for the Galveston Movement was shared by several Jewish organizations in America and Europe. Jacob Schiff presided over the "Galveston Committee" in New York City, which coordinated the recruiting efforts of the London-based Jewish Territorial Organization and the Jewish Emigration Society of Kiev with the reception and relocation activities of the Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau, based in Galveston. The first refugees-fifty-four men and two women-arrived on the steamship Cassel in early July 1907. Two days before the ship docked, a warehouse remodeled as a reception center burned down, raising questions about the welcome likely to be afforded the newcomers! Mayor Henry Landes, however, spoke to the immigrants; a schoolteacher from southern Russia answered with a grateful speech on behalf of the group. Rabbi Henry Cohen of Temple B'nai Israel met almost all of the ships that carried Jewish immigrants and helped direct them to new homes in the interior. The members of the first group were distributed among cities and communities throughout the western states and as far north as Fargo, North Dakota. The main territory to which the bureau directed immigrants was between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Four of them settled in Fort Worth; none remained in Galveston, in keeping with the movement's policy. Despite the economic depression 900 immigrants passed through Galveston before the end of 1907. The following year only 106 came, and Jewish organizations worked hard to stimulate interest in absorbing the immigrants among the smaller communities across the United States. Within Texas the focus was on Tyler, Texarkana, Marshall, and Palestine, since the railroad fare from Galveston to these towns, at the half-priced charity rate, was only four or five dollars. Recruiters stipulated that immigrants should be able-bodied laborers and skilled workers under the age of forty. The number of Hebrew teachers and kosher butchers was restricted in the belief that strict religious adherence would limit the immigrants' ability to work and be assimilated. Teachers were deemed unskilled, though some entered, as did others, on the pretense that their skills or training met job needs. In 1909 a total of 773 Jews landed at Galveston, and by the following year 2,500 had sailed to the port, most originating in small towns. In 1911 some 1,400 arrived, only 2 percent of the total Jewish immigration to the United States in that year. By 1913 the situation had worsened; merchants became concerned about competition from immigrants, and an increasing number of immigrating Polish Jews who would not work on Saturday reduced the waning enthusiasm of American Jewish communities further. Three communities declined to take more; the representative from Cleburne, Texas, complained about the immigrants' "exactions, fault-finding, and refusal to abide by the labor conditions upon which they come." Throughout the period of the Galveston Movement, its chances of success were handicapped by continual infighting among the cooperating organizations on both sides of the Atlantic, by the unfavorable condition of the American economy, and by the restrictive attitudes and behavior of Galveston immigration authorities. Further, European Jews did not recognize Texas and the Southwest as the America of their dreams; the area satisfied no religious or nationalistic expectations. Between 1907 and 1914, when it ceased operation, the Jewish Immigrants' Information Bureau brought 10,000 immigrants through Galveston, approximately one-third the number who migrated to Israel during the same period." Jacob Schiff Excerpted from Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM "SCHIFF, JACOB HENRY (1847-1920), U.S. financier and philanthropist. Born in Frankfort, Germany, he was the descendant of a distinguished rabbinical family. He received a thorough secular and religious education. He followed his father, Moses, who was associated with the Rothschild banking firm, into that occupation. At the age of 18 Schiff emigrated to the United States, entered a brokerage firm in New York, and became a partner in Budge, Schiff and Co. In 1875 he married the daughter of Solomon Loeb, head of the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb and Co., and entered that firm. Schiff's remarkable financial abilities were recognized when he was named head of Kuhn, Loeb in 1885. Schiff's firm soon became one of the two most powerful private investment banking houses in the United States, participating actively in fostering the rapid industrialization of the U.S. economy during the late 19th and early 20th century. Such firms as Westinghouse Electric, U.S. Rubber, Armour, and American Telephone and Telegraph were financed to some extent through Kuhn, Loeb's efforts. In addition, Schiff served as director or adviser of numerous banks, insurance companies, and other enterprises. His role in the consolidation and expansion of the American railroad network, the backbone of an industrialized society, was particularly influential. He gave his support to Edward H. Harriman in the reorganization of the Union Pacific Railroad, and was a staunch associate of James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway for many years. Huge sums were obtained by Kuhn, Loeb for the Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Ohio, and other railroad systems. Schiff was prominently involved in floating loans to the government at home and to foreign nations, the most spectacular being a bond issue of $200,000,000 for Japan at the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05. Deeply angered by the anti-Semitic policies of the czarist regime in Russia, he was delighted to support the Japanese war effort. He consistently refused to participate in loans on behalf of Russia, and used his influence to prevent other firms from underwriting Russian loans, while providing financial support for Russian Jewish self-defense groups. Schiff carried this policy into World War I, relenting only after the fall of czarism in 1917. At that time, he undertook to support the Kerensky government with a substantial loan. It was said of Schiff that "nothing Jewish was alien to his heart." Personally devout, proud of his family and religious heritage, Schiff used his immense personal wealth and influence on behalf of his coreligionists everywhere. His widespread philanthropic activities and communal interests brought him recognition as the foremost figure of his time in American Jewry. Although affiliated with Temple Emanu-El and the Reform movement in the United States, Schiff retained many of the Orthodox habits of his youth. Offended by Russia's refusal to honor passports held by American Jews, Schiff was prominent in the successful campaign to abrogate the Russo-American Treaty of 1832. During World War I, Schiff and the established American Jewish leadership came under increasing fire from newer, Zionist-oriented Jewish groups. He had strongly opposed the Zionist movement, rejecting it as a secular, nationalistic perversion of the Jewish faith, incompatible with American citizenship. On the other hand, he did aid agricultural projects and the Haifa Technical Institute in Palestine. Recognizing changing world conditions, Schiff announced in 1917 his support of a cultural homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people. Proud of his Americanism, Schiff contributed generously in time and money to a multitude of civic activities and philanthropies. Although linked by family and cultural ties to Germany, Schiff patriotically supported the American war effort when the United States entered World War I" Israel Zangwill Excerpted from Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM "ZANGWILL, ISRAEL (1864-1926), English author. Born in London of a poor Russian immigrant family, Zangwill was first raised in Bristol and then educated at the Jews' Free School in the East End of London, where he later became a teacher. He began his literary career with humorous short stories, but his early life had given him material for work of a far more serious kind. In one of his article's he laid powerful emphasis on the permanent significance of Judaism as a revealed religion; but he also confessed that, in the light of modern skepticism and as a result of the emancipation of the Jews and the breakdown of the ghetto system, Judaism was no longer a viable faith. The Jew, he wrote, was "like a mother who clasps her dead child to her breast and will not let it go." Zangwill's interests were by no means confined to literature. He took an active part in public questions, including women's suffrage and, during World War I, pacifism. It was to him that Herzl came in 1895, introducing himself with the words: "I am Theodor Herzl. Help me to rebuild the Jewish state." A year later Zangwill enabled Herzl to address his first London audience. He then founded the Jewish Territorial Organization, dedicated to the creation of a Jewish territory in some country that need not necessarily be Palestine. He threw himself into this project with characteristic zeal and energy, recruiting for it the support of the first Lord Rothschild and of the U.S. philanthropist Jacob Schiff. The movement's only substantial achievement was the settlement of several thousand Jews in Galveston, Texas, in the years before World War I. Zangwill was a brilliant and witty speaker and could always draw a capacity audience of London's Jews. Some of his best-known aphorisms were: "A chosen people is really a choosing people," "Every dogma has its day, but ideas are eternal." Rabbi Jacob Billikopf Excerpted from Encyclopedia Judaica CD-ROM "BILLIKOPF, JACOB (1883-1950), U.S. social worker. Billikopf, born in [Vilna, Poland], emigrated to the United States in the late 1890s. He was a son-in-law of Louis Marshall. An imaginative administrator and fund raiser, receptive to fresh ideas, Billikopf became professionally active in labor relations as well as Jewish social work. He served as superintendent of the Jewish Settlement, Cincinnati (1904-05), of the United Jewish Charities of Milwaukee (1905-07), and of the United Jewish Charities, Kansas City, Missouri (1907). While in Kansas City Billikopf played an important role in the establishment of the pioneering municipal Board of Public Welfare. During World War I Billikopf directed the campaign to raise $25 million for Jewish war relief and in 1918 he directed the National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants. He was appointed executive director of the Federation of Jewish Charities, Philadelphia (1919), which became his base for many services in the labor field. He was the impartial chairman of the Men's Clothing Industry, New York City, and the Ladies' Garment Industry, Philadelphia. In the 1930s he was appointed impartial chairman of the federal Regional Labor Board. Billikopf also served as vice-president of the American Association for Old Age Security, chairman of the Committee of One Hundred on Unemployment Relief, Philadelphia (1930-31), and board chairman of the New York Clothing Unemployment Fund." |
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