Lori Harrison-Kahan shares her journey to recover and republish lost literary works by two pioneering Jewish American women writers from San Francisco: Miriam Michelson, a journalist and activist whose feminist utopian novella The Superwoman originally appeared in 1912, and Emma Wolf, whose novel Heirs of Yesterday (1900) addresses genteel antisemitism and the rise of Reform Judaism in late nineteenth-century America.

As middle-class, American-born Jewish writers from the Western United States, Michelson and Wolf broaden and complicate our understanding of early Jewish American literary history, which has been dominated by immigrant narratives set in the New York ghetto. Illuminating Michelson’s and Wolf’s unconventional lives and literary careers, this talk demonstrates how their works—now back in print after more than a century of obscurity—speak to issues of gender, class, religion, and social reform that we continue to grapple with today. 

Join scholars Lori Harrison-Kahan and Jessica Kirzane as they share their journeys to recover, republish, and translate lost literary works by influential Jewish American women writers from the early twentieth century. Lori and Jessica will introduce three fascinating women: Yiddish writer Miriam Karpilove, journalist and suffragist Miriam Michelson, and novelist Emma Wolf. They will discuss these writers’ unconventional lives and literary careers, exploring how their works—now back in print after a century of obscurity—speak to issues of gender, sex, religion, and activism that we continue to grapple with today.   

Lori Harrison-Kahan is the editor of The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson (Wayne State UP, 2019) and co-editor of a new edition of Heirs of Yesterday by Emma Wolf (Wayne State UP, 2020). She is also the author of The White Negress: Lit­er­a­ture, 

Min­strelsy, and the Black-Jew­ish Imag­i­nary (Rutgers UP, 2011) and an asso­ciate pro­fes­sor of the prac­tice of Eng­lish at Boston Col­lege.

Jessica Kirzane is the translator of Miriam Karpilove's Diary of a Lonely Girl, or the Battle against Free Love (Syracuse UP, 2020). She is the Assistant Instructional Professor of Yiddish at the University of Chicago and the Editor-in-chief of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies.

You can view a recording of the event here.

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Co-editors Lori Harrison-Kahan and Barbara Cantalupo will discuss their new edition of Emma Wolf's 1900 novel, Heirs of Yesterday, with Jonathan Sarna as part of the bookstore's Friday Forum Series.

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Back in print for the first time in over a century, Emma Wolf's 1900 novel, Heirs of Yesterday, is a love story featuring middle-class, Jewish characters set against the backdrop of Old San Francisco. A testament to the talents of its author, one of the earliest Jewish novelists in the United States, Heirs of Yesterday explores topics such as family loyalty, American individualism, and genteel anti-Semitism. 

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Co-editors Barbara Cantalupo and Lori Harrison-Kahan will share their journey to recover Wolf's literary legacy. They will discuss how Wolf's life and work were shaped by the rise of Reform Judaism in late nineteenth-century California and by national controversies over the depiction of Jewish identity in American fiction. 

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Lori will participate in a seminar exploring the political implications of Jewish women’s writing from the turn of the twentieth century to the present, focusing in particular on the intersections of literary form and identity formations. Her paper will examine the publication history and reception of Anna Strunsky’s The Kempton-Wace Letters (1903), an epistolary novel co-authored with Jack London, in the context of scholarship on women’s literary production and intermarriage.

Over the past two years, Lori has published two books of literary recovery: The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson (2019) and Heirs of Yesterday by Emma Wolf (2020), co-edited by Barbara Cantalupo. In this talk, she will discuss her journey to recover journalism and fiction by turn-of-the-twentieth-century Jewish American women writers, from her initial encounters with these forgotten authors and texts through the research and editorial processes. She will explore why these overlooked texts deserve new audiences today, demonstrating how Jewish women’s writing from the American West alters our understanding of American literary history, women’s literature, and Jewish literary culture.

As part of the conference "Gender, Women's Suffrage, and Political Power," Lori will speak on the panel "Jewish Women, Citizenship, Suffrage, and Sexuality." Her talk will focus on the vexed legacy of San Francisco’s Philomath Club to explore how conservative gender ideologies, including anti-suffragism, operated as an important form of political power for Jewish women.

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You can find information and the conference program here.

As part of the conference on "Gender, Women's Suffrage, and Political Power," sponsored by Michigan State and the University of Michigan, Lori will discuss her recent book The Superwoman and Other Writings, an edited collection of journalism and fiction by Miriam Michelson. One of the earliest women journalists in San Francisco in the 1890s, Michelson went on to become a suffrage activist and a bestselling author of feminist fiction like “The Superwoman,” a novella that inspired the “Wonder Woman” comics. Harrison-Kahan's talk will address Michelson's upbringing as the daughter of Jewish immigrants in Virginia City, Nevada; her influence on politics in the Progressive Era; and her relevance to contemporary movements like #MeToo.

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You can find more information here.

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Join the Jacksonville Chapter of Hadassah for a timely conversation between Lori and Dr. Melissa R. Klapper, Professor of History and Director of Women's & Gender Studies at Rowan University.  They will discuss their research on Jewish women's involvement in the suffrage movement, providing historical and literary perspectives on the long history of American Jewish women's social and political activism. They will introduce the audience to a fascinating history and tell the tale of little-known Jewish women who played important roles in the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment and whose legacy continues to influence the social movements of today.

As part of the symposium "100 Years of Women Voting" in conjunction with the Library of Congress's exhibit "Shall Not Be Denied: Women Fight for the Vote," Lori will participate in a panel, "Diverse Voices from the Suffrage Movement," with Nancy Bird-Soto, Jacqueline Jones Royster, and Elizabeth Novara. The event is co-sponsored by the U.S. Capitol Historical Society (USCHS) and the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, and made possible by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission.

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As part of the American Jewish Historical Society's 2020 Biennial Scholar's Conference, Lori will participate in a roundtable about how Jews and Jewishness have shaped modes and discourses of American activism over the past century.  Presenting case studies of California-based Jewish women Miriam Michelson and Anna Strunsky, who turned to journalism to highlight socio-political issues from suffrage to socialism, Lori will explore how Progressive Era San Francisco serves as an overlooked site for Jewish cultural production and activism.

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The panel will include:

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The Girl Reporter as Activist: Jewish Women and Journalism in Progressive Era San Francisco

Lori Harrison-Kahan, Boston College

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Activist Writers of the 1940s: Anti-antisemitism in Women-Authored Fiction

Rachel Gordan, University of Florida

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Ambivalent Actors?  Examining Jewish Sorority Women's Activism in Postwar America

Shira Kohn, Independent Scholar

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Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance in the 1960s

Marc Dollinger, San Francisco State University

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Faith-Based Organizing With/out Faith:  A Genealogy of Zoomer Jewish Activism

Elliot Ratzman, Pennsylvania State University Humanities Institute

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Chair: Joyce Antler 

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This online program was originally scheduled at the Central Library. Interested attendees should register with email addresses in order to receive the remote meeting details.

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In honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, Lori Harrison-Kahan will discuss her new book, The Superwoman and Other Writings, an edited collection of journalism and fiction by Miriam Michelson. One of the earliest female journalists in San Francisco in the 1890s, Michelson went on to become a suffrage activist and a bestselling author of feminist fiction like “The Superwoman,” a novella that inspired the “Wonder Woman” comics. Harrison-Kahan's talk will address Michelson's upbringing in Virginia City, Nevada, during the Gold Rush; her influence on Progressive Era politics; and her relevance to contemporary movements like #MeToo.

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2020 is a landmark year for women, marking 100 years of American women having the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment. 

In honor of this historic centennial, Lori Harrison-Kahan and Joan Michelson will discuss the role that women journalists played in securing the right to vote. They will share the story of Miriam Michelson, a pioneering female journalist, women’s rights activist, and best-selling novelist who leveraged her fame to keep the suffrage movement in the headlines. They will also discuss why Miriam’s story remains relevant to women’s equality and advancement today.

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Lori Harrison-Kahan will be in conversation with Joan Michelson about The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson.

In honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, Lexington author Lori Harrison-Kahan will discuss her new book, The Superwoman and Other Writings, an edited collection of journalism and fiction by Miriam Michelson. One of the first female journalists in San Francisco in the 1890s, Michelson went on to become a suffrage activist and a bestselling author of feminist fiction like “The Superwoman,” a novella that inspired the “Wonder Woman” comics. Harrison-Kahan's talk will address Michelson's upbringing in Virginia City, Nevada, during the Gold Rush; her influence on Progressive Era politics; and her relevance to contemporary movements like #MeToo.

In this presentation, Lori Harrison-Kahan will discuss the career of writer and suffrage activist Miriam Michelson, an overlooked figure of the early women’s rights movement. One of San Francisco’s first women reporters in the 1890s, Michelson went on to become a bestselling author of feminist fiction. Her works include “The Superwoman,” a novella about a matriarchal utopian society that inspired the “Wonder Woman” comics. Harrison-Kahan’s talk will address Michelson’s upbringing as the daughter of Jewish immigrants in Virginia City, Nevada; her influence on Progressive Era politics in San Francisco; and her relevance to contemporary movements such as #MeToo.

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This event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Community Library and Alta Magazine.

Lori will participate in a roundtable that analyzes Jewish women’s activism in various eras and regions with an emphasis on the ways that activists disrupted dominant knowledge systems to advance social justice. She will discuss how Miriam Michelson and Anna Strunsky, activists and writers from turn-of-the-twentieth-century San Francisco, used journalism as a means of advocating gender and economic equality. 

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View the full conference program here.

Lori Harrison-Kahan will be in conversation with Joan Michelson as part of the Harvard Book Store's Friday Forum series. 

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Telling Our Story Stage

Sponsored by Bards Alley

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• 8:00pm – 8:15pm – Mix & Mingle

• 8:15pm – 9:00pm – “Telling Our Stories: Women in History” Panel of Authors

  • Moderator: Joan Michelson, host of Green Connections Radio podcast, Forbes contributor, women’s advocate and great-great niece of suffrage reporter and activist Miriam Michelson

  • Mary Hartnett, My Own Words: Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  • Lori Harrison-Kahan, ed., The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson

  • Patricia Miller, Bringing Down the Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the “Powerless” Woman Who Took on Washington

  • Samantha Seiple, Louisa On the Front Lines: Louisa May Alcott in the Civil War

• 9:00pm – 9:45pm – “Women Warriors” Panel of Authors

  • Tee Marie Hanible, The Warrior Code: 11 Principles to Unleash the Badass Inside of You

  • Taylor Lustig, contributor of Yes She Can: 10 Stories of Hope & Change from Young Female Staffers of the Obama White House

  • Moms Demand Action, Fight Like a Mother: How a Grassroots Movement Took on the Gun Lobby and Why Women Will Change the World

• 9:45pm – 10:00pm  – Author Meet & Greet

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The Newseum marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed all American women the right to vote, with a conversation featuring today’s top political journalists.

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The program will also celebrate the work of Miriam Michelson, a revolutionary journalist and best-selling feminist novelist who leveraged her fame and notoriety to keep the suffrage movement on the front page of the news at the turn of the 20th century.

The new book The Superwoman and Other Writings by Miriam Michelson, edited with an introduction by Lori Harrison-Kahan and foreword by Joan Michelson, Miriam’s great-great niece, is the first collection of newspaper articles and fiction written by Miriam Michelson.

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The event is free and open to the public.

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Watch the video here

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View photos here

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In 1919-1920, the United States will be observing the centennial of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. In this roundtable, participants will discuss how nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century women writers from a variety of backgrounds turned to literature and print culture as a means of suffrage activism as well as a forum for political debate and democratic participation in the face of disenfranchisement. Panelists will assess the legacy of women’s writing (including continued efforts to recover works in order to expand the canon of suffrage literature); the role of past and current women writers in social justice activism today; and the politics of commemoration surrounding the centennial itself. 

Discussants:

Mary Chapman, University of British Columbia

Jacqueline Emery, SUNY Old Westbury

Lori Harrison-Kahan, Boston College

Jen McDaneld, University of Portland

Koritha Mitchell, Ohio State University

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Moderator: Susan Tomlinson, University of Massachusetts-Boston

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