Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College professor prepares lecture focusing on Ellis Island mural

Feb. 26—TIFTON — Elizabeth Medley will speak on "Rise of the Resistance: Immigrant Women's Political Activism from Ellis Island to the Modern Era" in the second lecture of a three-part series at 6 p.m. on March 3 in Ernest Edwards Hall at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

Medley's lecture addresses a special mural exhibition titled "Coming to America — The Immigrant Experience Featuring the Lost Mural of Ellis Island," which opened to the public in Edwards Hall on Jan. 18. Medley is an assistant professor in ABAC's School of Arts and Sciences.

"I am going to talk about just one event: the 1902 kosher meat riots," Medley said. "It focuses on Jewish immigrant women in New York City who certainly would have come through Ellis Island and their protests of what they saw as price gouging meat.

"It is a really unusual story because usually when there are food riots it is because there is no food. In this case, there is food, just not the right food. As conservative Jewish women, they had to serve their families kosher foods."

Medley said she was attracted to this specific story because it focused on Ellis Island immigrants and an unusual set of issues related to food and protests.

"These are also women who often did not speak much English, certainly did not vote, and within their own communities did not have much power," Medley said. "However, as wives and mothers, they saw this issue of food prices as something that they should be able to speak against as the nutritional providers for their homes."

Russell Pryor, an assistant professor in the School of Arts and Sciences, will speak on "Fried Chicken, Spaghetti, and Tacos: Mass Migration and the All-American Meal" on April 7 in the final lecture of the series. John Vanzo, professor of political science and geography in the School of Arts and Sciences, opened the series when he recently spoke on "Malanija Knavs and the Right Way to Come to America."

The 85-foot mural by Andrew Sabori is a reproduction of the 200-foot mural titled "The Role of the Immigrant in the Industrial Development of America," which was created circa 1935 by Edward Laning as a Works Progress Administration project.

Andrew Sabori and Roberta Sabori conceived the idea for their project when they visited Ellis Island in the New York Harbor in 2003. Roberta Sabori examined a photo of the Laning mural in the Ellis Island dining hall. The beautiful work of art was known only to the immigrants passing through Ellis Island since its location was off limits to the public.

When Ellis Island closed in 1954, much of the original mural was lost after a violent storm damaged the building. Following painstaking research, Sabori began painting his reproduction of the Laning mural in 2008.

In addition to the mural, the exhibit includes Sabori's original portraits of 35 significant immigrants and facsimiles of relevant documents from the National Archives, including passenger arrival lists, census records, draft registration cards, and naturalization petitions.

There is no charge to visit the mural or attend the lectures. Edwards Hall is open from 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Fridays.