Miriam Friedlander (April 8, 1914,

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– October 4, 2009,

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) was an American politician from the

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

who represented New York City's Lower East Side and Chinatown in the New York City Council from 1974 to 1991.

Biography

Friedlander was born to a

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 ...

family in

, in 1914. Her father, David Sigel (Sigelovytch), was an office worker, insurance salesman, and political activist in the immigrant foreign language clubs. Her mother Hannah Lipman (Goldotsky) was fluent in Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, and English. Miriam moved with her family to

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

as at the age of five in 1919. She graduated from

Evander Childs High School Evander is a masculine given name. It is an anglicization of the Greek name Εὔανδρος (lit. "good man", Latinized ''Evandrus''). It has also been adopted as an anglicization of the Gaelic name Iomhar (the Gaelic variant of the name Ivor ...

in 1931 and

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's College of Education in 1935. In 1939, she married Mark Friedlander, and their son Paul was born in New York City in 1943. The marriage ended in divorce in 1954. Her brother Paul died in 1938 fighting for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, according to a 2008 profile published in ''The Villager'', a community newspaper in the Lower East Side. In 1962, Friedlander was one of ten U.S.

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

officials told by Attorney General

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...

to register with the Subversive Activities Control Board. Friedlander was identified as a member of the New York party committee. In 1973, Friedlander won the Democratic primary for the 2nd district of the City Council, which then included SoHo, Chinatown, the East Village and the Lower East Side, by a mere 48 votes, defeating four opponents. She had to defend her seat the following year, due to a court-ordered legislative reapportionment. In the

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primary election she defeated a then-little known lawyer named Sheldon Silver, by just 95 votes. In 1985, she ran against another Chinatown candidate, Virginia Kee.

LGBT issues

William K. Dobbs, a longtime gay activist who got to know Ms. Friedlander in the 1970s and 1980s, described her as a strong, and early, advocate of gay rights.

"When she made a point, it was a physical action," he said in a phone interview. "She'd pull her arm back and crook her elbow. She was a real brawler as a politician, and she fought fiercely in what she believed in."

Death

Miriam Friedlander died on October 4, 2009, aged 95. Prior to her death, Friedlander supported the candidacies of

John Liu John Chun Yah Liu (born January 8, 1967) is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a member of the New York State Senate for the 11th district in northeast Queens. He previously served as the 43rd New Y ...

and Mark Green.

References

1914 births 2009 deaths Politicians from the Bronx New York City Council members New York (state) Democrats 20th-century American politicians Women New York City Council members 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American women {{NewYork-politician-stub