March is Jewish Women’s History Month

In 2002, the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, Mass., opened a new exhibit, Enterprising Women: 250 Years of American Business, that celebrated the accomplishments of female entrepreneurs.

Inspired by this exhibit, Gail Reimer, Director of the Jewish Women’s Archive (JWA), invited me to write a series of articles on Jewish women entrepreneurs. The mission of the JWA is to uncover, chronicle and transmit to a broad public the rich history of American Jewish women; therefore, Gail is pleased to share these articles with the readers of The Jewish Voice in celebration of Jewish Women’s History Month.

Background: 1880-1950

It was not until the vast wave of Eastern European immigration (1880-1920) that Jewish women established major businesses. Nevertheless, it was rare, even in the first half of the twentieth century, for those women who were clearly the “movers and shakers” of their companies to assume the CEO position, which was usually gifted to their husbands, fathers or brothers.

Bessie Zaltman, Central Appalachian Coal Fields:

1890-1960

Between the 1890s and the 1930s, Jews from Eastern Europe moved to the Central Appalachian coal fields in search of economic opportunity. To cope with the harsh economic conditions they encountered, everyone in the family worked. Young women not only worked for their parents, but also took jobs as sales clerks at other stores. “Helping out” was the phrase used to describe the wide range of women’s economic activities – a term that greatly understates the contributions to the household economy made by many coal-field women.

For   Bessie Zaltman of Keystone West Virginia, the entire responsibility of supporting herself and her three children fell upon her shoulders when she divorced her shiftless husband in 1905. Bessie managed to acquire a cow and scraped together a living selling butter and milk. Later, she purchased some real estate and became a landlady, overcoming numerous crises that included floods, fires and lawsuits.

Even though women were accepted as breadwinners, the local Jewish businessmen often considered Bessie’s aggressive business style inappropriate. She was embroiled in a number of legal battles with these men. Before her divorce, one of them spread rumors that she was having an affair; once she divorced, he attempted to take advantage of her weakened position by suing her for repayment of a loan made to her ex-husband.

Some years later, Bessie sued a Jewish businessman who had sold her a sick cow. His advice to Bessie was, “Get yourself a husband.” Her retort: “I don’t have to have no husband. I have got good children and I have got good property.” When Bessie died in 1949, she left an estate of $84,000.

TOBY ROSSNER (tobyross@cox.net) was the Director of Media Services at the Bureau of Jewish Education from 1978 to 2002.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second article in a series on the history of Jewish women entrepreneurs.