My guest is an accomplished author and professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His name is Samuel (Sam) G. Freedman and I'm so happy that we connected so he could share his story of his mother, Eleanor, with my SHLTMM listeners. Sam is the author of many books including "Who She Was, My Search For My Mother's Life," which is what we'll be discussing during this episode.
As a teen, Sam neglected to really connect with his mother. Unfortunately, Eleanor passed away at a very young. In time, as a journalist, Sam realized he had the skills to research his mom's past and get to know her from the beginning. In "Who She Was, My Search For My Mother's Life," you'll find the story of a beautiful young woman who had so many hopes and dreams and life, WWII, the Holocaust and more just got in the way.
Eleanor had everything going for her. She was smart, beautiful, creative and she had many friends. She graduated high school at 16 as the valedictorian of her class. The skies the limit for Eleanor. But life didn't really turn out the way she had hoped or planned.
Her parent's had immigrated from Poland and settled in the Bronx, NY. When the Great Depression, WWII and The Holocaust turned her family's life upside down, Eleanor had to put her dreams aside and get a job which where hard to come by. Her father hadn't been very good at holding down steady work, so Eleanor was the most likely to fill those shoes as the main bread winner for the family.
There's so much more to this story, so I hope you enjoy hearing it through Sam's words and his voice.