Adella Kean Zametkin

File:Adella Kean Zametkin 1930.jpg

Adella Kean Zametkin (born Adella Emanuelovna Khean; October 12, 1863 – May 19, 1931) was an American writer and activist.

Life

Zametkin was born on October 12, 1863, in Mohyliv-Podilskyi,{{Cite web|last=Fogel|first=Joshua|date=2019-03-29|title=Adela Kean-Zametkin|url=http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2019/03/adela-kean-zametkin.html|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-03|website=Yiddish Leksikon|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190607201208/https://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2019/03/adela-kean-zametkin.html |archive-date=2019-06-07 }} Russian Empire, in modern-day Ukraine, as Adella Emanuelovna Khean. Her parents were saloon-keepers.{{Cite book|last=Hobson|first=Laura Z.|url=http://archive.org/details/laurazlife00hobs|title=Laura Z: A Life|publisher=Arbor House|year=1983|isbn=978-0-87795-469-9|location=New York, N.Y.|page=23|author-link=Laura Z. Hobson|via=Internet Archive}}

Adella Kean was given private lessons from a tutor at an early age, and as a young woman was a tutor herself to poor girls. She immigrated to America in 1888 and quickly gravitated towards the socialist movement. She participated in the Socialist Labor Party, lectured in women's groups, and contributed to leading socialist publications. She helped found The Forward in 1897 and worked as its cashier. She wrote and lectured on women's issues like nutrition, hygiene, birth control, and child education.{{Cite book|last=Michels|first=Tony|url=http://archive.org/details/fireintheirheart0000mich|title=A Fire in their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2005|isbn=978-0-674-01913-3|location=Cambridge, M.A.|page=88|via=Internet Archive}} She focused on aiding Americanizing poor Jews on the Lower East Side, and was credited with organizing several women's organizations.

She married to Mikhail Zametkin whom she met while he was agitating for the Socialist Labor Party.Shelby Shapiro, Words to the Wives: The Yiddish Press, Immigrant Women, and Jewish-American Identity, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kroFEQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59 p. 59]

Zametkin translated several books into Yiddish, including Nikolay Chernyshevsky's What is to Be Done and Émile Zola's La Bête humaine. In 1930, she published Der froys handbukh (The woman’s handbook).

In 1918, Zametkin began running a weekly column in Der Tog called Fun a froy tsu froyen (From one woman/wife to another), which was soon supplemented by a second weekly column called In der froyen velt (In the world of women/wives). The columns included mainly advice on household management like cooking tips and recipes as well as teaching women about topics like microbes and the importance of getting fresh air, with the goal of making Jewish working-class immigrant more educated of modern American society She also wrote about history, science, notable women like Florence Nightingale.{{Cite book|last=Cassedy|first=Steven|url=http://archive.org/details/toothershoreruss0000cass|title=To the Other Shore: The Russian Jewish Intellectuals Who Came to America|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1997|isbn=978-0-691-02975-7|location=Princeton, N.J.|pages=101–103|via=Internet Archive}}

In 1928, Zametkin ran for the New York State Assembly as a Socialist in Queens County's 4th District, losing to Republican Robert J. Hunt.{{Cite web|title=NY Assembly - Queens 04 Race - Nov 06, 1928|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=752593|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-03|website=Our Campaigns|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003231128/https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=752593 |archive-date=2021-10-03 }} She ran again in the same district in 1929, losing to Democrat Joseph D. Nunan.{{Cite web|title=NY Assembly - Queens 04 Race - Nov 05, 1929|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=750653|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-03|website=Our Campaigns|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003231134/https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=750653 |archive-date=2021-10-03 }} She ran for a third time in the district in 1930, losing to Democrat James A. Burke.{{Cite web|title=NY Assembly - Queens 04 Race - Nov 04, 1930|url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=744679|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-03|website=Our Campaigns|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003231134/https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=744679 |archive-date=2021-10-03 }} The district was in Jamaica, Queens. While she lost each election, she polled more votes than any other previous Socialist candidate had in the district.

In 1889, she married labor leader Michael Zametkin. They had a son and two daughters,{{Cite news|date=May 23, 1931|title=Mrs. Zametkin, Veteran N.Y. Socialist, Dies|volume=XII|page=2|work=The New Leader|issue=21|location=New York, N.Y.|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_new-leader_1931-05-23_12_21/page/n1/mode/1up|via=Internet Archive}} including Laura Z. Hobson.

Death

Zametkin died following a long illness at Presbyterian Hospital on May 19, 1931.{{Cite news|date=May 20, 1931|title=Mrs. Zametkin Dead; A Socialist Leader|volume=LXXX|page=25|work=The New York Times|issue=26779|location=New York, N.Y.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1931/05/20/96200629.pdf}}