Baruch Vladeck and the Movement for Public Housing
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Max Weinreich Fellowship Lecture in American Jewish Studies
The Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship and the Dora and Mayer Tendler Endowed Fellowship in Jewish Studies Admission: Free |
Baruch Vladeck (1886-1938) was an important figure in American Yiddish culture, serving as the longtime managing editor of the Forverts, a New York City Councilman, president of the American ORT and chairman of the Jewish Labor Committee. Yet one of Vladeck's most significant, but still underappreciated, roles was his place on the first board of the New York City Housing Authority and as a supporter of public housing. The public housing movement in New York in part grew out of earlier Jewish tenant activism, especially on the Lower East Side. In the 1930s, New York City was a pioneer in the field of public housing, creating a system that today is the largest in the nation and houses around 340,000 people in its developments. In this talk, Michael Casper will explore Vladeck's unique place as a pioneer in the public housing movement.
About the Speaker
Michael Casper is the Postdoctoral Associate in Modern Jewish History at Yale University. He is the coauthor, with Nathaniel Deutsch, of A Fortress in Brooklyn: Race, Real Estate, and the Making of Hasidic Williamsburg, which won a National Jewish Book Award. He is the recipient of the 2022-2034 Fellowship in American Jewish Studies, funded by the Rose and Isidore Drench Memorial Fellowship and the Dora and Mayer Tendler Endowed Fellowship in Jewish Studies.