Henrietta Szold
A Hometown Hero Goes to Baltimore City Public Schools
In early fall, the JMM developed its fifth living history character, Henrietta Szold in connection with our latest exhibition, Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews and Medicine in America. The JMM’s education department developed learning and resource materials based on her exceptional life and career as well as highlight the challenges she faced as a modern woman defining herself as an American Jew during the 19th and 20th centuries.
Henrietta Szold was born in Baltimore in 1860, the daughter of Rabbi Benjamin Szold, the spiritual leader of Baltimore’s Temple Oheb Shalom. Throughout her life, Henrietta was committed to helping those who were in need. Szold’s many contributions included establishing a night school in Baltimore for new immigrants and the creation of Hadassah, a national Zionist women’s organization devoted to improving health care in Palestine that is still in existence today. She was directly involved in the rescue of European Jewish children during World War II through her work with Youth Aliyah, an initiative that helped resettle and educate Jewish youth in Palestine.
In November, Henrietta Szold, portrayed by Natalie Pilcher made her way to the 7th and 8th grade classrooms at Morell Park Elementary/Middle School located in the southwest section of the city. The living history character Henrietta Szold was used to kick-off the students’ own research on their National History day projects. This year’s theme- Taking A Stand in History. The objectives of the program were that the students would watch the presentation and following they would have the opportunity to ask questions. The performances were stellar and the students asked great questions relative to Henrietta’s life following the presentations. A few students even asked Natalie about her job as an actress and asked for tips in preparing for their own National History day projects.
Two weeks later, the education staff followed up with another visit to the classroom. This time, the students looked at reproductions of archival materials relating to Henrietta’s life and answer questions to make better understanding of the documents. The images represented Henrietta’s life both in Baltimore and in Palestine. Students made their own connection to Szold’s life knowing that they also attended Baltimore City public schools and they were also familiar with the address of her two homes, one on Lombard and the other on Eutaw Streets.
The students also saw images of the early medical care that was available in Palestine in the early 1920’s, and made connections to their own experiences of medical care. They also showed empathy as they learned of Szold’s courageous work saving over 10,000 children from Nazi Germany through her work with Youth Aliyah.
We returned back to Morell Park a week later to the classroom and the teacher was so excites to see us because she wanted to share the bulletin board that she had created documenting the students work in connection with Henrietta Szold. Henrietta Szold is now Baltimore City Public Schools new Hometown Hero. You can learn about Henrietta Szold – Baltimore’s Own Hometown Hero in the JMM’s exhibit, Beyond Chicken Soup: Jews and Medicine in America through January 16, 2017. If you would like to learn more about the Henrietta Szold Living History Education project, contact Education Director, Ilene Dackman-Alon at idackmanalon@jewishmuseummd.org or 443.873.5718.
Henrietta Szold: Living History Character was made possible through the generous support of the Kolker-Saxon-Hallock Family Foundation, Inc., a supporting foundation of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.
Educational opportunities were made possible by the Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Fund of The Associated.
A blog post by Education Director Ilene Dackman-Alon. To read more posts by Ilene click HERE.