Liberal lawyer and unconventional politician, Bella Stavisky Abzug (1920-1998) works energetically for civil and women's rights. She served three terms as a New York Congresswoman.

Bella Stavisky Abzug was born on July 24, 1920, in the Bronx, New York. She was the daughter of Emanuel and Esther Stavisky, Russian Jewish immigrants who owned a local meat market. During her youth she worked in her father's store until it failed in the 1920s and he turned to selling insurance. In 1930 her father died, which left her mother to support the family with his insurance money and jobs in local department stores. She attended an all-female high school in the west Bronx and eventually entered Hunter College, where she excelled as a student, earning her degree in 1942.

Student Activist

Abzug was elected as president of her high school class and later as student body president at Hunter College. She taught Hebrew and...