Emma Lazarus Federation Photograph: Discussion Questions - Description
- What is going on here? What do you see that makes you say that?
- Based on the banner they are in front of, who do you think these marchers are?
- What does the banner behind them suggest that their organization supports?
- Would you have expected this type of group to have participated in the March on Washington? Why or why not?
- Why do you think they chose to march under this "banner"? What message do you think they were trying to send to other people at the March? To people who might see the March on TV?
- How is this group the same as or different from the groups in the first two pictures you examined?
- How, if at all, does this photograph affect your understanding of the March on Washington?
- Optional: Visit JWA's Women of Valor exhibit on Emma Lazarus to learn more about the namesake of the Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs (ELF). Lazarus is the author of "The New Colossus," the poem on the Statue of Liberty that begins "Give me your tired, your poor…"
- The Emma Lazarus Federation of Jewish Women's Clubs, founded in the 1950's, fought anti-Semitism and racism while celebrating Jewish culture and striving to provide, "leadership to women in the Jewish communities in our time in the same spirit as Emma Lazarus did in hers." How does knowing more about Emma Lazarus and the ELF impact your understanding of the photograph?
