Dear Friend,

What does Jewish history have to teach us about a year of quarantine, racial justice uprisings, and political fervor?

As it turns out, a lot. This year the team at the Forward’s archives explored 123 years of reporting history in new ways. Here are some of our highlights:

• In March we looked back at our 1918 coverage of New York City’s influenza outbreak. Even then, coverage focused on the tough tradeoffs families faced between food and housing in the midst of the outbreak. 
• In June, at the height of the protests after George Floyd’s death and in honor of Juneteenth, we looked back at the work of Black labor organizer Frank Crosswaith. Crosswaith’s profile was part of our collaboration with Urban Archive, which publishes virtual tours of New York City that anyone can access for free.
• And in a way that is sadly timely once again, we looked back at how Jewish Americans weathered unemployment and economic downturns based on our coverage from the 1920s and 1930.

These are just some of the ways history informs the present at the Forward. That’s what we do at the archives every day, and it makes our coverage of today’s news more powerful and more permanent.

We are dedicated to keeping history alive. If you believe in the work we do, please make a donation today. The next generations of Forward readers will thank you. 

Sincerely,

Chana Pollack
Archivist
The Forward

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