Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman: A Memoir of Wobbly Organizer Matilda Rabinowitz Robbins (Part 1‪)‬ Tales from the Reuther Library

In the first of a two-episode series, artist Robbin Légère Henderson discusses her exhibition of original scratchboard drawings featured in the illustrated and annotated autobiography of Henderson’s grandmother, Matilda Rabinowitz Robbins, a Socialist, IWW organizer, feminist, writer, mother, and social worker. Henderson shares stories from Robbins’ autobiography, Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman: A Memoir from the Early Twentieth Century, explaining how the optimism of a 13-year-old immigrant from the Ukraine was soon undone by the realities of working in garment sweatshops on the East Coast, leading to Matilda Robbins’ brief but influential role as labor organizer for the International Workers of the World from 1912 to 1917.

Related Resources

Exhibit Announcement: “Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman”

Blog: Love Letters

Book: Immigrant Girl, Radical Woman: A Memoir from the Early Twentieth Century

robbinhenderson.com

Related Collections

Matilda Robbins Papers

Industrial Workers of the World Records

Ben Légère Papers

John Beffel Papers

Episode Credits

Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English

Interviewer: Dan Golodner

Interviewees: Robbin Légère Henderson

Sound: Troy Eller English

With support from the Reuther Podcast Collective: Bart Bealmear, Elizabeth Clemens, Meghan Courtney, Troy Eller English, Dan Golodner, and Paul Neirink