1914-2009

YfJeleO)tafi'l7;.? a, !!J6 g/?!J(/'I)'MJ?itment tCi.$r6tiee a'lld {j)kdieafitNI. to· A,e'j{ YfJO'lJ'lIIlU{I}?i[y

9i£-;;kf))n !]?;lalka-ide'/' - ?f3eteb:ratk"N.'!I'~ 9J~emkj!. IE. 2009

.9'J{;;;. ~.t#. c:a;;jJ' cg{i/fiI'Utl ~a1nkR;

5:30- 5:45 5A5- 7:15

Welcome by City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez Invited Speakers (in alphabetical order)

Catherine Abate Frieda Bradlow Tom Brasuell Vinie Burrows Margaret Chin Tom Duane Carol Feinman Paul Friedlander Chino Garcia Deborah Glick

Frances Goldin Tommy Loeb Margarita Lopez Rosie Mendez Harriet Putterman Christine Quinn Roberta Singer Susan Stetzer

Nick Unger

Philip Van Aver

Opportunity to Speak

for Others Who Cherished Miriam

Reception

r{Jfoetial Jl:{;;JlA0 (('I,.-

ro. Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and Lisa Kaplan, Chief of Staff

ro-- Speaker Christine Quinn and the staff of the Events and Production Services Division of the NYC Council

ro-- The Works Catering, a project of Housing Works, and to Charles IGn~ ro-- Frieda Bradlow, Miriam's longtime friend, campaign manager, for her work all these years, and once again

ro. Gloria Wyeth, graphic artist and publication design

Paul Friedlander

My mother, in spite of her public persona and political success" was a private person. We intend these pictures and stories to illuminate her life and interests outside the spotlight. In the end, though. her last words would most certainly be,

"Don't Mourn, Organize!"

0-1 r> ,-:tr= ':;//(/'<'4)1. J ,:7CNili{y

Mom's parents were born in the Jewish Pale of what is now Belarus, emigrating around 1900 and settling in Pittsburgh, FA. Her father, David Sigel (Sigelovytch) [1884 - 1934], the second oldest of seven children, was an office worker, insurance salesman and political activist in the immigrant foreign language clubs. Her mother, Hannah Lipman (Goldotsky) [1886- 1975], while active in the clubs also worked as a secretary and translator,; she was fluent in Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish and English ..

They married in 1911; Miriam was born April 8,. 1914, and Paul on August 29, 1915. In 1919, the family moved to New York .where Mom graduated from Evander Childs High School in 1931 and New York University College of Education in 1935.

Miriam (center) with her cousins, circa 1919.

'@(,(/f;:ye ~a!l(,j

Paul Sigel graduated NYU in June 1937 with an engineering degree. He volunteered for the International Brigades in Spain fighting for the Republic against Franco's fascist invasion. Paul was killed at Fuentes del Ebro in October 1938.

During her NYU years, Mom studied dance and physical education, performing in the Emily Hewlett Concert Group (dance) throughout the Metropolitan Area .. She also maintained her own dance studio in the Village. In her later years, when prodded by family and friends to walk with a cane, she would reply, "J don't need one, I was a dancer and know how to fall." To the horror of onlookers, she confirmed this a number of tirnes=-without serious mjury,

!ik/'fiyC'> ('///("/ YMt"'/'//("("("/

Mom and Dad (Mark Friedlander) met in 1937 at Camp Unity, a progressive resort in upstate New York. They were married in 1939, and I was born in 1943. After Dad entered the Army Air Corps, our family spent the war years at Moody Field in Valdosta, GA. They bought a house on the G.L Bill in Sunnyside, Queens, and Mom became active in community organizing and the P.T.A. They were divorced 1111954·

Early memory-

it's 1948 and I am squished between my parents in the front seat oj a panel truck crowned with PA speakers. Dad is driving while over the microphone, Mom exhorts the passing neighborhoods to vote Jor Captain Hugh MulzacJor Queens Borough President. Like the Energizer bunny, over the next 60 years, she never stopped campaigning.

?BtliJell :; 7J,mmllkefl,r 7fj"r'II,jlilrr/ir'lIa/ !i;(;!Jedle,; (eeeL) 1961- 1973

The CCCL was formed in response to the 1961 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding registration provisions Of1950 McCarran Act. Mom became the Executive Director and, along with an advisory board that included attorneys artists, activists, clergy, scientists and politicians, they set about to reverse this vestige of the McCarthy era.

They successfully lobbied for a ban on loyalty oaths in the NY State Constitution revision and exposed the continued existence of federally funded detention camps being maintained for future subversives under Title II of the McCarran Act. Heralded in writer Charles Allen's book, "Concentration Camps, USA" the story broke in Look Magazine in May 1968.

In the late 1960s, their work expanded to address unconstitutional surveillance and detention of anti-war activists. In June ]973, with the endorsement of six Reform Democratic clubs, Mom won the Democratic primary for Council District 3. She won the November general election and in December 1973, (CCL turned out the lights in its small E. 17th Street office.

1974-1992-

it>- "She's the most energetic, principled and available legislator r had the privilege of working with." Ruth Messenger

r,y. "Friedlander is a champion of the underdog. She is staunch in her advocacy on behalf of tenants, small businesses, women, minority group members, the poor, the sick-people in need." Battery News

it>-"I have no patience for people who betray themselves, whether it involves me or not. There are principles and beliefs that you have to stand up for." Miriam Friedlander

r,y. "Thank you for your support and assistance to the ChineseAmerican planning Council- Project Help." Asian Family Services

r,y. "We are the first legislative body to set up a full committee on women ... thereare more women than men in New York City-in fact, we are a major minority and we have been deprived of our rights for generations .... I'm trying to layout the problems that exist for women today." Miriam Friedlander on the Committee on Women

<'bo Award "to one in the forefront of the struggle for battered women's shelters, funding for important programs and the right of women and families to a life free from fear" Abused Women Aid in Crisis (AWAIC)

<'bo "In recognition and appreciation for your sincere dedication .... and continuous untiring efforts in achieving rights and equality for women in uniformed services" Policewomen's Endowment Associa-

~"She worked harder than any Council member to secure passage of the gay rights bill." Allen Roskoff

~ Miriam was "the straight godmother of the LGBT movement." Former Stonewall president Tom Smith

~ "1 welcome Councilwoman Miriam Friedlander's resolution (#1840)

for a Nuclear Freeze." Senator Ted Kennedy

~ The city was not allowing demonstrations in front of City Hall under Mayor Ed Koch in 1987 when ACT UP was getting started, "So we contacted Miriam. Her solution: she invited several hundred of us onto the steps as her personal guests. On a glorious late fall evening, ACT UP- with a beaming Miriam in attendanceheld its first (though hardly its last) gloriously noisy action on the steps of City Hall." AIDS activist Jim Eigo"

~ .. .Stop the building of the horneport for ships carrying nuclear weapons. Can we afford to

tell our community oh.s million people who live in New York City that we are playing roulette with their lives?" Miriam Friedlander

~ "I think Miriam was the best councitperson, because after she was elected you saw her in the neighborhood. She would go around talking to anybody and everybody." Community activist John Penley

~ "I remember the late Tony Dapolito said if'f:here was a meeting of three people, she would be the fourth person there. She went to precinct community council meetings, block association meetings - she was everywhere." Frieda Bradlow, campaign manager

,'~ {{;B:Jt - '0('IIIINI (fjje(J'~J 1992- 2009

"She tried a comeback two years tater, but was defeated by an old Tammany Hall tactic when a candidate with a name close to her own entered the race ... But she stayed in the neighborhood, living in her second floor walk-up on East 6th Street, available for advice to those still fighting the good fight, showing up for press conferences, demonstrations and rallies. Tom Robbins, the Village Voice

Mom dedicated herself to Women Fighting Poverty, an annual conference with speakers and participants that ranged from prominent political figures, community activists and scholars to community members citywide. At conference end, there was always an action agenda, involving participants in issue advocacy.

"She was there until the end. She was always wise in her advice to me when I was in a quandary about a position to take. She never steered me wrong." Frances Goldin, friend and co-founder of Cooper Square Committee

During her last years, Mom expressed a restrained delight at the recognition and awards bestowed upon her, the successes of those allies elected to office and the conversations with community members on the street and at her favorite bench in Tompkins Square Park.

i.

Morn set.foot on all s :ren

, .If I '. cl 1". d'

contments 111 uamg a zo lac

wet landing irl. Antarctica. For each Paris, Florence, 'Cairo, Capetown and Sydney, there was a Papua N~wGuinea,

'Tierra del Fuego, Z~z\b , Kashmir, TasbkeJ.idd Mac chu Pichu.l

On what would now be calleaf g eco-cruises, she sailed small

l!ll1'ip's up the Amazon, Jrule,

ll'n'nn('h (Venezuela), Yangtze, Volga,

,. .

others rivers. Mom would return

and tsatskehs, cited to share her

j'

Mom painted for nearly 50 years, mostly in oils. When she could, she went to "the studio," taking weekly lessons and painting from models and stililifes.

Often she would drive into the Catskills for mountain landscapes. At right she is shown with a few of her many paintings. Her sketch on the program's back cover is the view from her second floor apartment on East 6,h Street, where she lived for 42 years.

(jJn:Ol(/;)WI/U>'I'

Mom's grandson David, named after her father, was born in 1991, and she was his "nana." During our regular visits from the west coast, she was sure to take him to the latest Broadway shows.

When David turned 13, he was invited to join us at Benito's II, a small Italian restaurant on Mulberry Street, where for 30 years family and friends gathered the night before we returned home.

Through her generosity, David entered the U niversity of Oregon this fall as an Honor's College freshman.

"Miriam lived a wonderful, long life and she was an inspiration to many oIus as an activist and someone who challenged the powers that be .. And I

think many of us saw her as a role model: There weren't a lot of women in office - she was there and she had a great fighting spirit. And hopefully we can all learn from that, but also emulate her example. "

) (Assemblywoman Deborah Glick)