Around and About New Jersey-Jersey Homesteads

Roosevelt, New Jersey, was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was President of the United States during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The original name of the town was “Jersey Homesteads.” Its purpose was to provide a place in the country for Jewish, immigrant, garment workers in New York and Philadelphia to live and work far from the city slums. The Jewish scientist Albert Einstein, who was then living in nearby Princeton, visited the town to express his support.
The famous artist Ben Shahn, himself an immigrant from Russia, painted a mural in the building which is today the Roosevelt elementary school. The mural shows a stream of Jewish immigrants, led by Albert Einstein, fleeing pogroms in Europe, coming to America, working in sweatshops, organizing unions, and finally settling in Roosevelt, New Jersey.
Social studies teacher Ilene Levine leads her class in an oral history interview with Bernarda Shahn, the widow of Ben Shahn. Mrs. Shahn, who helped her husband paint the mural, discusses its meaning. Then, art teacher Rita Williams has the students draw their own versions of sections of the mural and discuss the emotional meaning of their work.
For a teachers guide go to:
www.state.nj.u...