When Bob and I went to New York and had two interviews scheduled – one with Ruth Proskauer Smith and one at the Tenement Museum – we didn’t know that the two would be interrelated at all.  As it turned out, Ruth Proskauer Smith advocated for immigrant rights throughout the last century along with many other progressive causes, so it made sense to air the two together.  It seems that Ruth could have done anything with her life, but she became a leader for women’s reproductive rights following the example of her parents who also championed liberal issues.  Her mother advocated the right to die and her father helped draft legislation that became the New Deal.  I think she’s a phenomenal role model by any measure – grace, humor, and heart. 

To learn more about the Tenement Museum, see their web site – it’s full of interesting history about immigration in our country:

http://www.tenement.org/ .

-Ariana