1855-1912
Educational Reformer, Principal, School Superintendent

Educator of Immigrants.

Julia Richman spent her adult life in the New York City school system, working to educate the children of immigrants. As teacher, principal, then school superintendent, Richman developed innovative curricula and programs to teach turn-of-the-century American cultural values to the new immigrants arriving in record numbers. In her 1905 address to the National Education Association (NEA), the nation's leading educational association, Richman stated the philosophy behind her mission to educate immigrant children:

Ours is a nation of immigrants. The citizen voter of today was yesterday an immigrant child. Tomorrow he may be a political leader. Between the alien of today and the citizen of tomorrow stands the school, and upon the influence exerted by the school depends the kind of citizen the immigrant child will become.

Early Life.

Julia Richman was born in New York City in 1855 to...