Florence Kahn (née Prag; November 9, 1866 – November 16, 1948) was an American
teacher
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...
and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who in 1925 became the first
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
woman to serve in the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
. She was only the fifth woman to serve in Congress, and the second from
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, after fellow
San Franciscan Mae Nolan. Like Nolan, she took the seat in the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
left vacant by the death of her husband,
Julius Kahn Julius Kahn may refer to:
*Julius Kahn (inventor) (1874–1942), engineer of reinforced concrete
*Julius Kahn (congressman)
Julius Kahn (February 28, 1861 – December 18, 1924) was a United States Congressman who was succeeded by his wife ...
.
Life and career
Kahn was born in
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
to Conrad and Mary Prag, Jewish
Polish immigrants who befriended the
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
leader
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
, and sold supplies during the
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
.
Her family moved to San Francisco, California in 1869. She graduated from the San Francisco Girls' High School in 1883, and received an
A.B.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
in 1887.
She taught
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
at
Lowell High School.
She married
Julius Kahn Julius Kahn may refer to:
*Julius Kahn (inventor) (1874–1942), engineer of reinforced concrete
*Julius Kahn (congressman)
Julius Kahn (February 28, 1861 – December 18, 1924) was a United States Congressman who was succeeded by his wife ...
on March 19, 1899,
who served in Congress until his death on December 18, 1924. She was his aide
and, in parallel, she would write articles in the
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
.
![Florence Prag Kahn Portrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Florence_Prag_Kahn_Portrait.jpg)
Florence Kahn was elected as a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
to the
69th Congress, by
special election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...
, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, who had just been re-elected to a 13th term. She was reelected to the
70th,
71st,
72nd,
73rd, and
74th Congress
The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1935, ...
es, serving from December 7, 1925 to January 3, 1937.
She replaced her husband and became the first woman on the House Military Affairs Committee.
Kahn supported
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
's unsuccessful campaign against
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
in the
1932 presidential election.
She was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the
75th Congress
The 75th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1937 ...
in 1936.
Afterwards, Kahn actively tried to get women involved in
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
.
She was a member of the
American Association of University Women
The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,000 ...
,
Hadassah and the Council of Jewish Women. She was a
Reform Jew, and belonged to
Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco.
Kahn died in San Francisco on November 16, 1948, and was interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in
Colma, California
Colma (Ohlone for "Springs") is a small incorporated List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 1,507 at the 2020 census. The town w ...
.
Location of source materials relating to Florence Prag Kahn
The
Western Jewish History Center The Western Jewish History Center existed as part of the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, from 1967 to 2010. It is now the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, administered as part of the Bancroft Library, University of Califor ...
,
of the
Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, formerly known as the Judah L. Magnes Museum from 1961 until its reopening in 2012, is a museum of Jewish history, art, and culture in Berkeley, California. The museum, which was founded in 1961 by Se ...
in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
has a large collection of family papers, documents, correspondence, and photographs relating to Florence Prag Kahn and to her husband, Julius Kahn.
See also
*
List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
This is a list of Jewish members of the United States Congress. , there are 10 Jewish senators and 27 Jewish members of the House of Representatives serving in the United States Congress.
Senate
Elected to the Senate, but not seated
House ...
*
Women in the United States House of Representatives
Women have served in the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber, since the 1916 election of Republican Jeannette Rankin from Montana, the first woman in Con ...
References
*
* Seymour Brody. (1996)
Florence Prag Kahn. ''Jewish heroes & heroines of America: 150 true stories of American Jewish heroism''. .
Florence Kahn: Congressional Widow to Trailblazing Lawmaker''Multimedia presentation created by the Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.''
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kahn, Florence Prag
1866 births
1948 deaths
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American Reform Jews
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Women in California politics
Reform Jewish feminists
Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives
Jewish women politicians
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
Burials at Home of Peace Cemetery (Colma, California)