- Florence Prag Kahn
Florence Prag Kahn (
November 9 ,1866 –November 16 ,1948 ) was an Americanteacher andpolitician who in 1925 became the first Jewish woman to serve in theUnited States Congress . She was only the fifth woman to serve in Congress, and the second fromCalifornia , after fellowSan Francisco anMae Nolan . Like Nolan, she took the seat in the House of Representatives left vacant by the death of her husband,Julius Kahn .Kahn was born in
Salt Lake City, Utah to Conrad and Mary Prag, Jewish Polish immigrants who befriended theMormon leaderBrigham Young , and sold supplies during thegold rush . Her family moved to San Francisco, California in 1869. She graduated from the San Francisco Girls' High School in 1883, and received a A.B. from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1887. She taughthigh school English andHistory . She marriedJulius Kahn in 1899, who served in Congress until his death on December 18, 1924.Florence Kahn was elected as a Republican to the 69th Congress, by
special election , to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, who was then the Representative-elect. She was reelected to the 70th, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, and 74th Congresses, serving fromDecember 7 ,1925 toJanuary 3 ,1937 . She was the first woman on the House Military Affairs Committee.Kahn supported
Herbert Hoover 's unsuccessful campaign againstFranklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election. She was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection to the 75th Congress in 1936.Afterwards, Kahn actively tried to get women involved in
politics . She was a member of theAmerican Association of University Women ,Hadassah and theCouncil of Jewish Women . She was a practicing Jew, and belonged to the Emanu-Elsynagogue in San Francisco.Kahn died in San Francisco, and was interred in the Home of Peace Cemetery in
Colma, California .Location of Source Materials Relating to Florence Prag Kahn
The [http://www.magnes.org/collections/wjhc.html Western Jewish History Center] , of the [http://www.magnes.org Judah L. Magnes Museum] , in
Berkeley, California has a large collection of family papers, documents, correspondence, and photographs relating to Florence Prag Kahn and to her husband, Julius Kahn.References
*
* Seymour Brody. (1996) " [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/kahn.html Florence Prag Kahn] ". "Jewish heroes & heroines of America: 150 true stories of American Jewish heroism". ISBN 0-8119-0823-2.
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