Sadie American

Born in Chicago to Amelie (Smith) and Oscar American, a German American merchant, Sadie American was active from a young age as a multifaceted activist on behalf of Jewish women’s rights and for the betterment of social conditions for immigrant and impoverished youth. In 1891, she joined Hannah G. Solomon as secretary of the Jewish Women’s Congress, the forerunner for the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), which they formally launched in 1893 at the World’s Fair (Columbian Exposition). American served as the president of the New York branch of the NCJW from 1902 to 1916 and helped push the organization more fully toward progressive social welfare work with an emphasis on immigrant aid and activism against international sexual trafficking. She eventually dissociated from the NCJW (apparently because the organization would not support the idea of moving Jewish Sabbath services to Sunday, an idea held in some Reform Jewish circles at the time), but continued her intensive and creative social activism with transatlantic reach but with a particular focus on Chicago. In Chicago, she led efforts to convince the city administration to build playgrounds and other infrastructure for poor and immigrant children and helped pioneer the method of visual sociology, sociological analysis via photographic essay.