Anna Stewart

Censoring the Sources

This project is about Molly’s Pilgrim, a children’s book written by my grandmother, Barbara Cohen. The book was written towards the end of my grandmother’s life, but became one of her greatest successes, read across the country and published in many school textbooks. The story follows Molly, who is based on my great great aunt, after immigrating to the US from Russia. She is bullied in school for being different until she and her classmates learn the story of Thanksgiving. They are taught that Pilgrims are those who come to the United States seeking religious freedom, and eventually Molly embodies the idea of a Pilgrim herself. Once the kids see her in that way, they begin to accept her. While it is a story about Jewish immigration, antisemitic sentiments, and the need to assimilate into a culture in order to fit in, it was often read and taught in schools strictly as a Thanksgiving story. Moreover, it was used to perpetuate the myth of the Thanksgiving story as well as the false ideals of religious freedom in the United States. 

In one particular instance, a textbook publishing company sent my grandmother a draft of her book where all mentions of Judaism were stripped away. Barbara bargained with the publisher in order for the story to retain its Jewishness and its specificity. Some words and messages were allowed to remain, but the published version was still largely censored. In response to this experience, Cohen wrote an article entitled Censoring the Sources, excerpts of which are displayed here.

Collage and video, 2021