I was drawn to The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement, by Sharon McMahon, because I have a long standing love of American history. And while this interest was entirely fulfilled in the book, what made this so enjoyable were the powerful stories she tells.
MacMahon is right that virtually everyone covered in the book is an unknown (at least to me), as much as it was true that their actions were profound and noteworthy. There was the story of a young woman who started a school for Black children in the south with nothing but the shirt on her back (this was one of my favorites); the suffragettes who gave everything they had to get women the vote; a former slave who was the first Black person in the new state of Colorado, as well as a wealthy and independent businesswoman, even having the ear of the governor; and more than one philanthropist whose name you’ll never recognize, but changed Ameican’s access to education. McMahon is a great storyteller, though one gets the feeling that for people like those she discusses, the power of their actions tell the stories themselves.
Perhaps I’m betraying my Jewish pride, but one of the best chapters was about Julius Rosenwald, a self-made businessman who became an early partner in Sears Roebuck (but refused to lend his name to the company, knowing that rural whites wouldn’t buy from a Jew), and ended up giving away billions to charity. Amongst his many charitable endeavors, he partnered with local Southern communities (facilitated by Booker T. Washington) to open 5000 schools for Black children. Yes – 5000! Can you imagine?? I work in a world where if you fundraise for one building you’re a hero. He built 5000!!
Two related things didn’t sit that well with me. The first was, from time to time, a tone of “progressive” social values that felt condescending, moralistic, and anachronistic. The second was that all of the characters were chosen because they represented a “progressive” social change – mostly people who challenged patriarchy and racism. This is not a problem in and of itself, as they certainly deserve recognition for their incredible accomplishments. Rather, it’s that I felt misled. From the title, there was no indication that this was a throughline for why these characters were chosen, and I’m not even sure that this theme was acknowledged until the end. There are many other ”small and mighty” people who changed the world, and they did things that had nothing to do with racism or feminism, like the garment workers on the Lower East Side, or the introduction of charter schools and their impact on disadvantaged communities. There certainly were no stories about Jews who broke the barrier of anti-semitism early in this century, or Chinese workers who struggled for legitimacy after being brought over to work on the railways and denied citizenship. I note this, not because of any deficiency in the people chosen, but as a way to highlight both what felt like a lack of transparency in the title, and a reflection of a skewed perception of who counts when it comes to social change.
But to be clear – I really did enjoy the book, and am sure you will as well.
Just Because I Liked It:
- I loved this interview with Rabbi Yitzchok Alderstein on the 18forty podcast. Finally – someone normal.