Women and Naturalization in the United States presented by Joy Kestenbaum

In Person at Ridgewood Public Library, 125 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood, NJ

Open to GSBC members and non-Members

This presentation will provide an overview of the history of citizenship acquisition for women in the United States and the records these processes generated. It will focus on examples of Jewish women—married, widowed, and single—who sought, obtained, or lost citizenship in the 19th and 20th centuries, and review key federal and state laws that shaped the naturalization of women during different periods. Beginning in the mid-19th century, immigrant women generally derived citizenship through their American husbands. Following the passage of the Cable Act of 1922, also known as the Married Women’s Independent Citizenship Act, women could apply for naturalization independently of their spouses and no longer automatically lost their citizenship by marrying foreigners eligible for U.S. citizenship. The presentation will also examine cases of Jewish women, both naturalized and American-born, who lost their citizenship after the implementation of the 1907 Expatriation Act due to marriage to non-citizens, and how they were able to regain it in subsequent decades.

Joy Kestenbaum, M.A., M.L.S. is a professional genealogist and historical research consultant. She has lectured on family history, Jewish artists and architects, and historical buildings and landscapes at conferences in the United States, England, and Germany, as well as for local organizations. The Vice President of Programming of the Jewish Genealogical Society (New York) since 2015, she is also a consulting genealogist at the Peter; Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.