Jewish Amerian Heritage Month 2019

ONLY IN AMERICA In celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month 2019

INDELIBLE INK Jewish cartoonists, illustrators, and comic book creators

“DRAW A CRAZY PICTURE, WRITE A NUTTY POEM….PUT SOMETHING SILLY IN THE WORLD THAT AIN’T BEEN THERE BEFORE.” –Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic American Jewish Illustrators? With everything happening in the world, this year’s

Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) theme may feel surprising; we all know the urgent work to be done to come together across the country around serious issues, and to build empathy and compassion. The work of the illustrators we explore in this issue often does just that—communicates complicated lessons and deep insights about life and the human condition in brief and accessible ways.

The National Museum of American Jewish History is proud to be an official sponsor of the 2019 JAHM celebration this May, which focuses on American Jewish illustrators, cartoonists, and comic book creators. We offer this publication as a modest tribute to the contributions they have made to American culture.

At the heart of JAHM is the understanding that there are no strangers; we are Americans all, and that the great gift that America has afforded American Jews as a religious minority—when no one else in the world would—was the chance simply to be American and Jewish.

And so, each May and every day, we celebrate the work of American Jews across genres—music, medicine, education, and now illustration—to raise awareness of what Jews have been able to contribute to this country because of what this country makes possible. And, yes, to remind Jews and non-Jews alike that some of their favorite comic book heroes, beloved children’s books, and the cartoons they look forward to every week, are, in fact, the creation of Jewish artists.

Did Superman inspire you to “leap tall buildings in a single bound”? Did Bernard Weber’s Ira prepare you for your first sleepover? Did Roz Chast’s memoir help you find unexpected comfort as you cared for your aging parents? Did Rube Goldberg’s cartoons inspire you to invent? Do you evoke Ezra Jack Keats’ Peter and “crunch, crunch” each time you walk through the new snow? Did Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerwitz’s post-9/11 “New Yorkistan” cartoon make you re-think what tribes make up your own world?

Understanding the contributions American Jews have made to our country is a primary goal of JAHM. Considering the contributions of these artists and illustrators in your own lives is our humble hope for JAHM 2019.

Warmly,

Ivy L. Barsky, CEO and Gwen Goodman Director Cover image: Art from Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats, ©Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. ezra-jack-keats.org

2

TRANSFORMING THE SUPERHERO Comic book legend Stan Lee and other American Jews invented a new kind of hero Most respectable American publishing houses were off-limits to Jews in the early 20th century. But comic books—considered a second-rate medium at the time— afforded new opportunities to Jewish illustrators and writers.

In 1938, Jewish Cleveland teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster invented Superman, an immigrant to Earth with incredible powers. Bronx Jews Bob Kane (born Robert Kahn) and Bill Finger dreamed up the uncanny crimefighter they dubbed “The Bat-Man.” Both characters were immediate successes for DC Comics, thereby setting off a superhero explosion that forever changed the comics landscape. Another publisher, Timely Comics, responded with its own stars, Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch.

Enter a real-life comic book revolutionary, Stan Lee. Lee was born Stanley Martin Lieber in Manhattan in 1922. After graduating from high school, he began working in comics, starting as an assistant editor at Timely (later Marvel) Comics. In 1961, Lee, who was now editor-in-chief, was bored with churning out simplistic stories and ready to quit when his wife suggested he try writing something he’d be proud of. With innovative artist Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg), Lee created the Fantastic Four, the first comic in what came to be known as the Marvel Universe. The FF featured different types

of superheroes—outsiders like the Thing, a metaphor for minorities who felt out of place. Lee and Kirby also originated the outsider heroes the Hulk and the X-Men. These and other iconic characters—notably, Spider-Man (created by Lee and artist Steve Ditko)—infused Marvel’s comics with an urban Jewish sensibility, resulting in tales filled with ironic humor, violent loss, and monumental regret that mirrored the global Jewish experience in the 20th century.

Lee and Kirby went on to introduce ethnically specific characters, such as the first black superhero, the Black Panther, and Izzy Cohen of the Howling Commandos.

Lee died at the age of 95 in November 2018. A pioneer in an industry he’d almost quit, he was thrilled when characters he’d helped create found unprecedented popularity. Lee often made cameo appearances in Marvel’s blockbuster films, his age and persona mandating that he’d appear as a wisecracking old Jewish man.

His superhuman characters might have come to rule modern popular media, but Stan Lee was there to remind everyone that they had deep roots in 20th century American Jewish culture.

Written by DANNY FINGEROTH, a longtime writer and editor for Marvel Comics, and the author of Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero (Continuum/Bloomsbury). His biography of Stan Lee, A Marvelous Life, (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2019) will be published this year.

3

INDELIBLE IMAGES American Jewish illustrators’ creativity has left a lasting mark on children’s literature Children’s picture books are works of art. These slim volumes tell compelling stories with illustrations that don’t merely accompany the text but also come alive on the page, enriching the words and sparking young imaginations.

Some American picture books have become classics, beloved by parents and children alike.

Here are just a few examples: • • • • • • • •

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina Curious George by H.A. Rey and Margaret Rey Shrek! by William Steig Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel

It may surprise you to learn that every book on that list is the work of a Jewish illustratorauthor.

In fact, American Jewish illustrators have made major contributions to young people’s publishing. At least nine have won the field’s greatest honor, the Caldecott Award, presented to “the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.”

Consider Jacob Ezra Katz. Born in 1916, the son of Eastern European immigrants, Katz grew up poor in Brooklyn. His interest in drawing led to a career as a commercial artist. In the 1940s, in response to the antisemitism of the time, Katz legally changed his name to Ezra Jack Keats.

Keats’s first solo author-illustrator effort, The Snowy Day, was published in 1962. In 40 pages filled with colorful collaged images, he told the story of a small boy exploring the wonder of an overnight snowfall in the city. The book was unusual, even revolutionary: The boy, Peter, is black, and The Snowy Day marked the first time that any full-color American picture book featured an African American main character. “None of the manuscripts [by other authors] I’d been illustrating featured any black kids—except...in the background,” Keats explained years later. “My book would have him there simply because he should have been there all along.”

The Snowy Day won the 1963 Caldecott Award and inspired other authorillustrators to bring more diverse characters into their works. Today, it is considered among the most important American children’s books of all time.

Right: Illustration © 1987 by Bernard Waber

4

A year later, another Jewish artist broke boundaries: Maurice Sendak, also a Brooklynborn son of poor Jewish immigrants, published Where the Wild Things Are, a picture book expressing a child’s emotional and fantasy life. In it, young Max, angry at his mother’s reprimand, journeys to an island filled with monsters. The book was controversial—parents worried that the monsters were too frightening, and some critics were disturbed by Max’s expression of anger. But Wild Things won the Caldecott Award for 1964 and was soon deemed a classic.

Sendak wrote and illustrated numerous other influential picture books. At his death in 2012, the New York Times pronounced him “unquestionably the most important children’s book author of the 20th century.”

By the late 1970s, the trickle of influential Jewish illustrators became a flood. Vera Baker Williams, the daughter of Eastern European Jewish immigrants, illustrated and wrote the highly praised A Chair for My Mother—one of her many books focusing on working-class families, which was an unusual choice at the time. Bernard Waber published playful picture books about a sweet boy (Ira Sleeps Over) and that friendly crocodile, Lyle. Margot Zemach wrote and illustrated children’s books on Jewish themes. Celebrated poet, illustrator, and musician Shel Silverstein, son of Jewish immigrants, wrote and illustrated memorable children’s classics like The Giving Tree and A Light in the Attic. Dozens of other Jewish illustrators—including M. B. Goffstein, Marilyn Hirsh, Arnold and Anita Lobel, Patricia Polacco, and H. A. and Margaret Rey—published popular, well-received picture books.

The legacy continues with contemporary Jewish artists—among them Mordecai Gerstein, Maira Kalman, Joanne Rocklin, Amy Schwartz, Brian Selznick, Uri Shulevitz— producing exceptional books, works that today’s children may someday read to their grandchildren.

Written by IRA WOLFMAN, the author of numerous books for adults and children, including Jewish New York: Notable Neighborhoods and Memorable Moments, and Climbing Your Family Tree: Online and Offline Genealogy for Kids.

5

POIGNANT, POWERFUL...

AND FUNNY Jewish female cartoonists draw humor and insight from the complexities of American life

Some of the most poignant, most powerful, and funniest cartoons today are being created

by American Jewish women. Their witty observations of life in the U.S., filtered through their distinctive voices and artistic styles, make significant contributions to our nation’s cultural anthropology.

Award-winning cartoonist and author Roz Chast is widely celebrated for her amusing, anxietyridden sketches. Since 1978 The New Yorker has published more than 1,000 cartoons by this Brooklyn-born grandchild of Russian Jewish immigrants. Her recent book, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, hilariously yet sensitively explores the horror and humor of grown children caring for aging parents.

Liana Finck is known for her immensely popular Instagram feed—@lianafinck—where she publishes cartoons on a potpourri of topics, including relationships, online dating, American Jewish identity, antisemitism, and voting. Finck often notes in interviews that she feels like an outsider, even in her own Jewish community, and this perspective appears frequently in her work. Thirty-three-year-old Finck’s credentials already include two published books, a Fulbright fellowship, and a Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists.

Artist-author Maira Kalman combines playful illustrations with thoughtful reflections. And the Pursuit of Happiness, the illustrated blog she created for the New York Times in 2009, is based on her yearlong investigation of democracy at work across the nation, from Vermont to Kentucky and beyond. Kalman’s lively commentary and pointed questions about American history and culture are enriched by her colorful, quirky paintings. “The images that fill my imagination often come from the stories that my relatives told,” Kalman says. “Full of human foibles, moments of the absurd…the fairytale quality—those all inhabit my work.”

Other influential female Jewish cartoonists include Nicole Hollander, whose Sylvia is a feminist comic with a distinctly Jewish flavor; Hilary Price, whose daily strip, Rhymes with Orange, appears in 400 newspapers; Aline Kominsky-Crumb, the founder of Twisted Sisters, a feminist collective comic; and Miriam Engelberg, who was best known for her comic strip Planet 501c3 and her book, Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics.

Written by EMILY AUGUST, director of communications and public engagement at the National Museum of American Jewish History.

Left: Maira Kalman, Self-Portrait (with Pete), 2004–5, © Courtesy of the artist and Julie Saul Gallery, New York

6

FIND OUT MORE...

If Jewish American Heritage Month 2019 has inspired you to dig deeper into Jewish illustrators, comic book creators, and history, check out the ideas and resources below.

You’ll find a giant trove of intriguing information, including more web links, at JAHM.us.

1. Visit institutions specializing in American Jewish history. For a list of Jewish museums, bookstores, archives, and community centers, go to CAJM.net 2. For curated reading lists of illustrated children’s books and graphic novels by Jewish illustrators, visit jewishbookcouncil.org 3. D iscover JAHM events across the country planned for May or add your own!

You’ll find a list of happenings at JAHM.us/events.

4. F or a comprehensive listing and biographies of Jewish women illustrators and samples of their work, visit womenwhodraw.com/category/religion/jewish/ 5. L earn more about how American Jews shaped the comic book industry at myjewishlearning.com/article/jews-in-comic-books Above: From A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats, ©Ezra Jack Keats. ezra-jack-keats.org

7

BE A JAHMbassador!

JAHM LEADERSHIP

Now that you know about Jewish American Heritage Month, help spread the word in your community and celebrate the achievements of American Jews. It’s easy.

There are plenty of resources for you at JAHM.us. Here are a few to get started:

JAHM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

KNOW THE FACTS Encouraged by a bipartisan effort, led

by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Senator Arlen Specter, z”l, President George W. Bush proclaimed in 2006 that May would be Jewish American Heritage Month. JAHM has been established by presidential proclamation every year since. JAHM’s goal is to promote awareness of Jewish contributions to American history, heritage, and culture in its many forms.

LEARN MORE Visit JAHM.us for digital booklets on other themes—past topics have included education, science, and music—and other resources.

JOIN THE CELEBRATION

JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Greg Rosenbaum, Palisades Associates, Inc. Marcia Jo Zerivitz, Jewish Museum of Florida (emerita) Dr. Gary P. Zola, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives JAHM ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Ivy L. Barsky, National Museum of American Jewish History Kara Blond, Capital Jewish Museum Annie Polland, PhD, American Jewish Historical Society Gail Reimer, Jewish Women’s Archive (emerita) Shelley Rood, The Jewish Federations of North America Judith Rosenbaum, PhD, Jewish Women’s Archive Abby S. Schwartz, The Skirball Museum in Cincinnati Mel Wacks, Jewish-American Hall of Fame Melissa Martens Yaverbaum, Council of American Jewish Museums FOUNDERS

Senator Arlen Specter, z”l Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Connect to JAHM on social media with #JAHM Find us on

Hold events in your community. Already planning something? Great! Be sure to add it to the JAHM.us events calendar.

JAHM.us | 215.923.3811 On Historic Independence Mall Philadelphia