Cecile begins her interview by explaining her Russian heritage and Jewish upbringing, her father's career as a Hebrew teacher and cantor and tracing her roots to Baal Shem Tov. She discusses her education at Classical High School; her mother's liberated beliefs; and why she chose Pembroke. Regarding her education at Pembroke, Cecile describes her first days; joining Phi Beta Kappa; being a student of languages. She discusses founding the Debating Club and going against the grain by not doing homework and by rejecting certain dress codes. Cecile closes by sharing her failed elopement with her husband; using the Brown library; and looking up to the Pembroke deans as role models.
Notes:
Class year: 1930
Biographical note: Cecile Lena Kantowitz Israel was born in 1910 in New Jersey, but spent her adolescence and young adulthood in Providence, Rhode Island. Educated at Classical High School, she attended Pembroke College in the late 1920s. Cecile showed an interest in languages, becoming fluent in French and German, as well as the Yiddish she spoke growing up. She was a founder and board member of the Pembroke-Brown Debating Club and received a number of scholastic accolades. After graduation, Cecile conducted oral language examinations for the Civil Service and was involved with the NAACP. She married her husband, Fred Israel, in 1930.
This collection contains oral history interviews with alumnae of Brown University, which admitted its first women students in 1891. The Women's College at Brown was renamed Pembroke College in 1928, and in 1971, Pembroke College merged with the Men's College …
