Ellen David Friedman 8-November-2005 To Life! A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women

About this film

Ann Zinn Buffum and Sandra Stillman Gartner, project directors, interviewed Ellen David Friedman on November 8, 2005 in East Montpelier, Vermont as part of DAVARâs oral history project. Ellen David Friedman was born in New York City on May 7, 1952. Since she was 12 years old, she has been a passionate activist. After reading Jonathon Kozol's Death at an Early Age, an account of growing up black in the public schools, she organized her school friends to read the book, and then sell copies door to door. At age 14, Ellen was boycotting the sale of grapes and leafleting supermarkets to support the United Farm Workers in their struggle for decent wages and working conditions. Ellen grew up in the predominantly Jewish suburb of Roslyn Heights, New York. Her parents, first generation Americans, described themselves as atheists, yet the family belonged to a Reform synagogue and participated in Jewish culture. After graduating from Harvard University in 1974 with a degree in political science, Ellen moved to Vermont. She volunteered with the United Electrical Workers when they were trying to organize a union at General Electric in Rutland. While working for Orange County Mental Health she m…

Directors & creators

DAVAR: The Vermont Jewish Women's History Project

Subjects

social activist; vermont bio; united farm workers; vermont teachers union; united electrical workers

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