Kitchen Conversations: Democracy in Action at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum

RUTH J. ABRAM, an activist turned historian, is president of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, which she founded with the assistance of Anita Jacobson in 1988. The museum's mission is “to promote tolerance and historical perspective through the presentation and interpretation of the variety of immigrant and migrant experiences on Manhattan's Lower East Side, a gateway to America.” Author of numerous articles and speeches on the meaning and use of history, Abram's work has been widely covered in the media including The New York Times, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and the PBS (public television) series on the history of New York. The Tenement Museum is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Institute for Museum and Library Services Leadership Award for its work with contemporary immigrants.