Abraham Cahan was born in Russia in 1860. He became involved with a revolutionary movement as a student and was forced to leave the country, arriving in New York at the age of twenty-one. He was an active socialist, editor, and novelist for almost six decades, running the largest Jewish daily in the world, the Jewish Daily Forward, and founding the first socialist society in the country. He played a significant role in the improvement of living and working conditions on the East Side, and campaigned passionately for Jewish rights and the importance of socialism around the world.
