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Martha Gruening of Gomez Mill House with Dr. Ruth Abrahams
September 25, 2016 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
One of the most prominent Ulster County women of the early 20th century, active in educational reform and equal rights for women, has been all but forgotten. A lecture on September 25 at the Bevier House Museum will rectify that historical oversight.
A lecture on the life and accomplishments of Martha Gruening (1889-1937) will be delivered by Dr. Ruth Abrahams, Executive Director or the Gomez Mill House. (Gruening was a past resident of the Gomez Mill.) The lecture will take place on Sunday, September 25 at 3:00 PM at the Bevier House Museum, 2682 Route 209, Marbletown.
Born into a prominent and socially progressive family, Martha Gruening became aware early in life of social injustice. She had been inspired by her father and her siblings. Patriarch Emil Gruening ran free ophthalmology clinics for the poor and served as a trustee of The Nation, which her brother Ernest edited. Her sister Mary ran Madison Street Settlement House in NYC; sister Clara started a birth control rights organization with Mary Ware Dennett.
Despite her privileged background, Martha Gruening pledged to better the lives of fellow citizens and correct the inequities of society. A graduate of Smith College and NYU Law School, Martha engaged actively in such causes as suffragism, the right for women to vote. She was a civil rights pioneer, joining the NAACP and contributing to its magazine, The Crisis. Gruening also agitated for reforming worker conditions in factories and industry. She protested against American intervention in World War I, for which she was arrested in Philadelphia. Her progressive views were proclaimed in a series of articles she wrote for magazines of the era. At her premature death, she was working to open a progressive school, based on the philosophy of her mentor Will Durant on the grounds of the Gomez Mill House.
This lecture continues a series of UCHS events with the theme of “Celebrating Women in History,” to commemorate the 2017 centennial of woman suffrage in New York State.
Dr. Ruth Abrahams is the Executive Director of the Gomez Foundation for Mill House and the Gomez Mill House Museum and Historic Site since 1999. She served as Executive Director of the Lehman College Foundation (1993-2000), Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Pratt Institute (1985-1991), Senior Editor for Professional Development at Peat Marwick Mitchell (1980-1985), and Alumni Director at New York University (1975-1980). She received a Masters of Humanities (Japanese Studies) and a Ph.D. in Dance History from New York University. She taught graduate and undergraduate dance history as adjunct associate professor at New York University from 1982-1996, and was a founding member and first President of World Dance Alliance–Americas (1990, 1995-1999), an international advocacy group for dance. Abrahams sang professionally in New York from 1967-1980, recording, performing in light opera and off- Broadway productions, and as a soloist and chorister in classical choral performances.
Seating is limited so please email us for your reservation.
Free to UCHS members, $7 for general public, $5 for students, seniors and military personnel.