Abraham Cahan 1860-1951

Biography Project by Randy Hudgins, Fall 2003

In a career that spanned six decades as an author, journalist, and editor, Abraham Cahan served as a beacon of guidance for the rapidly expanding Jewish immigrant community. Cahan was born in Lithuania in 1860. While attending college, Cahan developed into an ardent Socialist. Following his graduation in 1881, he took a position as a teacher. His Socialist views would bring him under government scrutiny following a popular uprising in 1882. In order to escape persecution for his political beliefs, he immigrated to the United States.

After arriving in the United States, Cahan worked several factory jobs. His experiences as a factory worker, combined with his Socialist political views were to have a profound effect on his writing style. During the mid-1880's he became active in the Jewish community by helping to organize labor unions and making speeches on pertinent issues. He chose to deliver these speeches in the vernacular Yiddish, so his message would be more readily understood by audiences he was trying to reach. He also became a contributor to several Jewish newspapers. It was through his contributions to these newspapers that his work began to be recognized and published. His first major work was Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto, published in 1896. This was followed by The Imported Bridegroom in 1898. In 1897 Cahan, along with several colleagues founded The Jewish Daily Forward. Cahan left and returned to the paper several times in a five-year period before the publisher afforded him the latitude that he desired as editor. From 1903-1946, he served as the Editor-In-Chief of the Forward, and an Editor until his death in 1951. Under Cahan's leadership, the Forward expanded to a readership of half a million, and enjoyed a national reputation. During his tenure as Editor-In-Chief, Cahan wrote The Rise of David Levinsky. Published in 1917, David Levinsky was Cahan's most critically acclaimed work.

Cahan's works are particularly pertinent to historians because his stories offer a realistic view of how many immigrants, especially in the Jewish community, struggled to assimilate themselves into American society.

Cahan's literary style fit well with the prevailing realist school of the late 19th century. His stories give the reader an almost disturbingly accurate portrayal of the lives of working class immigrants of the Progressive Age. His characters were typically recently arrived Old World Jews. The main issue in each of his stories is the conflict that many immigrants experienced between embracing the ways of their newly adopted country, while at the same time striving to preserve the parts of their native culture that gave them their identity.

Many of the features of the Forward were similar to those in Cahan's stories. Although the Forward was politically Socialist, the majority of its features were articles that immigrant Jews could identify with aimed at helping them adapt to their new country with more success. The only major political issue dealt with by the Forward was that of Labor, primarily because it was so germane given the working class status of the majority of its readership. During Cahan's time as Editor-In-Chief, the Forward served as the vehicle through which many Jewish immigrants Americanized themselves.

There are two aspects of Cahan's thinking that classify him as a progressivist. First, he was an ardent supporter of labor. Through his stories and his work with the Forward, he sought to raise awareness of the need for protection the working class from the exploitation of factory owners. Second, he believed in the equality of opportunity of immigrant Americans. Through his example, and the advice he gave to his readers, he demonstrated that an immigrant could attain success in American society.

Sources used in this overview:

Rischin, Moses. Abraham Cahan Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 5: 1951-1955. American Council of Learned Societies, 1977. Reproduced at Gale
Biography Research Center.

Morovitz, Sanford E. Abraham Cahan American National Biography Online, 2000 Reproduced American National Biography Online.

Selected Bibliography:

Cahan, Abraham. The Education of Abraham Cahan. translated by Leon Stein. 1969. Available at the IU-Bloomington Research Wing Call Number: PJ5129 .C27 Z492.

This book is the English translation of the first two volumes of a five-volume Yiddish autobiography by Cahan.

Cahan, Abraham. The Rise of David Levinsky. 2002. Available at the IU-Bloomington Library Research Wing Call Number: PS3505.A254 R57 2002.

Cahan, Abraham. The Imported Bridegroom, and Other Stories of the New York Ghetto. 1968. Available at the IU-Bloomington Library Research Wing Call Number: PS3505.A28 I34.

Chametzky, Jules. From the Ghetto: The Fiction of Abraham Cahan. 1977. Available at the IU-Bloomington Library Research Wing Call Number: PS3505.A28 Z6.

This book is a good starting point for discussion about Cahan's works of fiction.

Marovitz, Sanford E. Abraham Cahan. 1996 Available at the IU-Bloomington Library Research Wing Call Number: PS3505.A254 Z8 1996.

The majority of critics point to this work as the essential Cahan biography.

Rischin, Moses. Grandma Never Lived in America: The New Journalism of Abraham Cahan. 1985 Available at the IU-Bloomington Library Research Wing at Call Number: F128.9.J5 C333 1985.

This book is a useful anthology with many examples of Cahan's articles in the Forward.