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Through the words and images in this exhibition, the evolution of the Jewish women of Saint John reveals numerous parallels of experience with women of many ethnic groups. The Jewish women of Saint John experienced many of the same difficulties as other ethnic women did in adapting to the demands of the society in which they lived, the demands of family and the requirements of one's ethnicity and religion (one and the same to Jewish women), all within the fabric of a prevailing social order in which men generally held most of the power.
Historian Corinne Azen Krause conducted an interesting oral historical stoy of three generations of ethnic women living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania [Grandmothers, Mothers and Daughters : Oral Histories of Three Generations of Ethnic American Women (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991, pp. 207-208] - a group of Italian, Jewish and Slavic women. In reading through the memories of the test women, it could be seen that there werea number of parallels with the many generations of Saint John Jewish women. Krauze discussed the differences between the generations- the immigrant or first generation (grandmothers), the second generation (daughters) and the third generation (granddaughters). Each generation has a different attitude and approach to their ethnicity, but it retains importance to all three generations - in all three ethnic groups - to varying degrees. Their ethnicity remains a defining part of their persona, despite the overwhelming presence of American culture.
The Jewish women of Saint John are generally as defined by their ethnicity as the women of Pittsburgh. The ethnic background of the third and fourth generations of Jewish women in Saint John has remained important to them, as witnessed by the continued involvement of the women of the community in Jewish affairs despite the decline of the community in size over the last quarter-century. Despite the overwhelming presence of modern Canadian mass-society, these women live and contribute to their city, province, and nation as Jewish women. Their persistence as a group and legacy of activism within their community and their city gives meaning and depth to the images which are presented in this exhibition.