Deborah Heiligman - She Persisted: Clara Lemlich

She Persisted: HARRIET TUBMAN

She Persisted: CLAUDETTE COLVIN

She Persisted: SALLY RIDE

She Persisted: VIRGINIA APGAR

She Persisted: NELLIE BLY

She Persisted: SONIA SOTOMAYOR

She Persisted: FLORENCE GRIFFITH JOYNER

She Persisted: RUBY BRIDGES

She Persisted: CLARA LEMLICH

She Persisted: MARGARET CHASE SMITH

She Persisted: MARIA TALLCHIEF

She Persisted: HELEN KELLER

She Persisted: OPRAH WINFREY

Clara Lemlich had a fire inside hera fire for justice, for fairness, for equality. When she saw something wrong, she spoke up. Claras voice was beautiful and strong, smart and loud. Claras voice and actions changed the world.

Because of where and when she was born, this was not easy. She needed that fire!

Clara Lemlich was born in 1886 to a religious Jewish family in Gorodok, a small village in Ukraine, which was then part of Russia. In that time and place, girls were supposed to behave and keep quiet. They were not considered equal to boys. And Jewish people were not considered equal to non-Jewish people. In fact, Jews were in constant danger of being killed in attacks called pogroms. Russian leaders supported these pogroms.

Fortunately, for most of Claras childhood, her family was unharmed. Clara had an older sister, Ella, and four brothers. Her parents owned a small grocery store. Claras father was a scholar. He studied Jewish books all day. Her mother took care of the children and the house, cooked the meals, and ran the store.

Clara and Ella helped their mother with her work while their four brothers went to school. Clara really wanted to go to school! But only boys went to the yeshiva, the Jewish school. So she asked to go to the village school, where she could learn Russian and other subjects. But the village school refused to let her attend because she was Jewish.

At home, Claras family spoke and read only Yiddish. Her parents allowed no Russian books, in protest against the Russian rulers. Clara understood, but the books she wanted to read were in Russian. She was burning to read novels and history, books about the great world outside their little village. She figured out a way.

Clara made friends easily, and had manyJewish and non-Jewish. She learned folk songs from her non-Jewish friends, and made a deal with some of her older Jewish friends who knew Russian. She taught them the songs, and they taught her how to read Russian. And they gave her books. Clara knew her parents didnt approve, so she hid the books and read in secret.

She read late at night when everyone else was asleep. She read when she was supposed to be doing chores. Once when she was at the stream washing clothes, she got so caught up reading, she forgot to go home. Her mother wondered why the laundry took her so long!

Clara read and read and read.

Then one day, her father found her stash of books hidden under a pan in the kitchen. He threw them into the fire!

All of Claras books, burned to ash.

But that didnt stop Clara for long. She knew she couldnt change her fathers mind, but she persisted! She did what she could doshe earned money to buy more books. She secretly sewed buttonholes in tailor shops. (Her parents didnt want her to work yet.)

She hid her new books in the attic of their house. Thats where she did most of her reading, often on Saturday afternoons, while the rest of the family was napping.

One Saturday, her next-door neighbor happened to look through the window and see her perched on a wooden beam, reading a book.

She begged him not to tell her parents.

Not only did the neighbor not tell, he gave her more to read! And not just books, either, but pamphlets about different kinds of government, and essays about ways to live. Clara read how people could make a difference in the world.