Mary Antin
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
rights activist.
Born to a Jewish family in Polotsk, she immigrated to the Boston area with her mother and siblings in 1894. She married Amadeus William Grabau
Amadeus William Grabau
Amadeus William Grabau was a German-American paleontologist and geologist who was born on January 9, 1870 in Cedarburg, Wisconsin in the United States and died on March 20, 1946 in Peking, China. He was employed as faculty at MIT and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute...
in 1901, and moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
where she attended Teachers College
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University is a graduate school of education located in New York City, New York...
of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
. Antin is best known for her 1912 autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
The Promised Land
The Promised Land (autobiography)
The Promised Land is the 1912 autobiography of Mary Antin. It tells the story of her early life in what is now Belarus and her immigration to the United States in 1894. The book focuses on her attempts to assimilate into the culture of the United States. It received very positive reviews and sold...
, which describes her assimilation into American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
culture. After its publication, Antin lectured on her immigrant experience to many audiences across the country, and became a major supporter for Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
and his Progressive Party
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
.
External links
- Review at the National Yiddish Book Center
- Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to Women's History at search.eb.com
- Vom Ghetto ins Land der Verheissung, 1913 (digitized version)
- Pamela S. Nadell, Mary Antin, Jewish Women Encyclopedia