In the wee hours of May 15, 1902, three thousand Jewish women quietly took up positions on the streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Convinced by the latest jump in the price of kosher meat that they were being gouged, they intended to shut down every kosher butcher shop in New York’s Jewish quarter. The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902 tells the twin stories of mostly female immigrants who discovered their collective consumer power and of the Beef Trust, the midwestern cartel that conspired to keep meat prices high despite efforts by the U.S. government to curtail its practices. With few resources and little experience but a great deal of steely determination, this group of women organized themselves in their first foray into the political arena in their adopted country, successfully challenged powerful vested corporate interests and set a pattern for future generations to follow.

Scott D. Seligman, author of The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902, will discuss his book with Professor Pamela Nadell, the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History and director of the Jewish Studies program at American University.

Presented in partnership with the Edlavitch DC JCC 

 

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