Bella Abzug: Lawyer, Activist, Congressional Pioneer
Bella Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998) was an American lawyer, politician, and social activist. Nicknamed “Battling Bella,” she was a leading figure in the women’s movement and co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971.
Early Life and Education
Bella Savitzky was born in New York City to Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrant parents from Chernigov in the Russian Empire. Her mother, Esther, immigrated from Kozelets in 1902, while her father, Emanuel, a butcher who emigrated in 1906, ran the Live and Let Live Meat Market on Ninth Avenue. As a young girl, Bella worked the cash register at her father’s deli and was notably competitive, regularly beating other children in various contests.
Her religious upbringing shaped her feminist consciousness early. At the synagogue, she resented that women were seated in back rows of the balcony. When her father died and she was 13, her Orthodox congregation refused to allow her to recite Kaddish, the mourners’ prayer reserved for sons. She defied this tradition by attending the synagogue every morning for a year to say the prayer herself.
She graduated from Walton High School in the Bronx, where she served as class president, and took violin lessons while attending Florence Marshall Hebrew High School. At Hunter College, where she majored in political science, she was student council president and active in the American Student Union. She simultaneously attended the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and later earned a law degree from Columbia University in 1944.
Career and Achievements
Abzug was admitted to the New York Bar in 1945, when few women practiced law. She began her career at the firm Pressman, Witt & Cammer, specializing in labor rights, tenants’ rights, and civil liberties cases. Early in her legal practice, she took on civil rights cases in the Southern United States, including the appeal of Willie McGee, a black man convicted of rape in Mississippi and sentenced to death by an all-white jury that deliberated for only two-and-a-half minutes. Though she lost the appeal and McGee was executed, Abzug became an outspoken advocate for liberal causes, including the Equal Rights Amendment and opposition to the Vietnam War and military draft.
During the McCarthy era, she was one of the few attorneys willing to openly challenge the House Un-American Activities Committee. She worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and the Civil Rights Congress, and was an early participant in Women Strike for Peace. Her activism placed her on President Nixon’s master list of political opponents.
Congressional Career
In 1970, Abzug challenged 14-year incumbent Leonard Farbstein in the Democratic primary for a Manhattan West Side congressional district, defeating him in a considerable upset before winning the general election against talk show host Barry Farber. Her campaign slogan was, “This woman’s place is in the House—the House of Representatives.”
In 1972, redistricting eliminated her district. She ran against William Fitts Ryan in the Democratic primary, but Ryan, though seriously ill, defeated her. When Ryan died before the general election, Abzug defeated his widow, Priscilla, at the party’s convention to become the Democratic nominee. She won the general election and was reelected easily in 1974, eventually representing part of the Bronx as well.
During her tenure, Abzug introduced the first federal gay rights bill, the Equality Act of 1974, with fellow New York representative Ed Koch. She chaired historic hearings on government secrecy as chair of the Subcommittee on Government Information and Individual Rights and sponsored the Equality Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), which made it unlawful to discriminate in credit transactions based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age. U.S. News & World Report voted her the third most influential member of the House.
Notable Events and Milestones
In 1971, Abzug joined Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, and Betty Friedan to found the National Women’s Political Caucus. She was appointed to co-chair the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year, created by President Gerald Ford’s executive order, and presided over the 1977 National Women’s Conference. President Jimmy Carter appointed her to lead the National Advisory Commission for Women. She was also a founder of the Commission for Women’s Equality of the American Jewish Congress and became a leading figure in ecofeminism.
Additional Resources
Bella Abzug’s legacy as a trailblazing lawyer, congresswoman, and feminist activist continues to inspire. Readers seeking more detailed information about her life, legal cases, and political achievements can consult biographical archives and Wikipedia, which contain extensive documentation of her contributions to American law, politics, and the women’s movement.
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