Educational Alliance
1889 - present
Three Jewish institutions- the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the Clara Aguilar Free Library and the Hebrew Free School Association- became a single institution in 1889, the Hebrew Institute. The Hebrew Institute became the Educational Alliance in 1893. The Educational Alliance sought to educate Jews in the Lower East Side and Americanize Jewish immigrants. The Alliance offered its clients classes in English, patriotism and civics, as well as Hebrew lessons, Sabbath services and Jewish holiday celebrations. According to the New York Times, in 1895, the lower level of the Educational Alliance building had a 710 seat auditorium for lectures and concerts. On the second and third floors, there were classrooms, libraries and reading rooms. On the top floor was a gymnasium. The roof garden on the top of the building provided an open air space and fresh air for clients in the years before New York opened Seward Park in 1903. Over 10,000 people visited the roof garden each day in the summer of 1903. Since the middle of the 20th century, the Alliance has adapted to changing demographics on the Lower East Side. The Alliance has retained its fundamental Jewish values while increasingly serving Black and Brown immigrants from the Global South.
Details
- Category
- Organization/Association
- Instructional Level
- Elementary/Grammar School, High School, Trade/Industrial, Undergraduate
- Audience
- All Ages
- Founder(s)
- Various
- Tags
- immigration, concerts, Americanization, lectures, progressiveeducation, vocationaleducation, adulteducation
Location
-
197 E Broadway, New York, NY 10002, USA1889 - present
Archival Collections
-
1875 - ?at New York Public LibrarySites of Teaching & Learning 7
References
-
Polland, A., & Soyer, D. (2015). Emerging Metropolis: New York jews in the age of Immigration, 1840-1920. New York University Press.
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“In a Wide Labor Field”. (1895, May 19). New York Times.