Rochlin, Harriet, 1924-

Harriet Rochlin, was born and raised in Boyle Heights at a time when that Los Angeles neighborhood housed the largest mixed immigrant population--mostly Jewish and Mexican-- in the West. She graduated from the UC Berkeley in June, 1947, and a month later married UC architectural student, Fred Rochlin, a Jewish native of Nogales, Arizona. Both Westerners of an unnamed sub-culture--American, Jewish, Mexican--they expressed their predilections in attachment to their natal landscapes, foods, music, and literature. They also savored the stories of their parents' moves West, and took pride in their Western nativity. Neither sensed that beyond their visceral and cerebral responses to Western life and culture lay buried a complex, 400-year-long Jewish history on Western soil. It took the civil rights-inspired ethnic history movement to illuminate that possibility, and a small army of seekers, the Rochlins among them, to bring it about. After the book, Pioneer Jews : a new life in the Far West was launched, Harriet sought deeper truths in the inner journey from immigrant to Westerner in the fictional Desert dwellers trilogy--The reformer's apprentice, The first lady of Dos Cacahuates, and On her way home. She is currently completing an illustrated documentary history, A mixed chorus : Jewish women in the American West, 1849 to 1924. A recognized authority and popular lecturer, Rochlin travels extensively, speaking on various aspects of Western Jewish history and fiction.

Los Angeles, California, writers. Harriet Rochlin is the author of numerous books, essays and articles on Jews and Jewish history, especially Jews in the Arizona Territory. Fred Rochlin is an architect and co-author with Harriet of Pioneer Jews: a new life in the far West (1984).

Harriet Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, CA, Nov. 4, 1924; BA, UC Berkeley, 1947; married Fred Rochlin, 1947; freelance writer and contributor of articles, feature stories, and reviews to magazines and scholarly journals; published novel, So far away (1981) and photodocumentary, Pioneer Jews : a new life in the far west (1984).

Biography

Harriet Rochlin, was born and raised in Boyle Heights when that Los Angeles neighborhood housed the largest mixed immigrant- mostly Jewish and Mexican-population in the West. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in Hispanic America, in June, 1947, and a month later married U.C. architectural student, Fred Rochlin, a Jewish native of Nogales, Arizona. Both westerners of an unnamed sub-culture-American, Jewish, Mexican-they expressed their predilections in attachment to their natal landscapes, foods, music, and literature. They also savored the stories of their parents' moves west, and took pride in their Western nativity. Neither sensed that beyond their visceral and cerebral responses to western life and culture lay buried a complex, 400-year-long Jewish history on Western soil. It took the civil rights-inspired ethnic history movement to illuminate that possibility, and a small army of seekers, the Rochlins among them, to bring it about. After Pioneer Jews: A New Life in the Far West was launched, Harriet sought deeper truths in the inner journey from immigrant to westerner in the fictional Desert Dwellers trilogy--- The Reformer's Apprentice, The First Lady of Dos Cacahuates, and On Her Way Home . She is currently completing an illustrated documentary history, A Mixed Chorus: Jewish Women in the American West 1849 to 1924 . A recognized authority and popular lecturer, Rochlin travels extensively, speaking on various aspects of Western Jewish history and fiction. For more, visit Welcome to the Jewish West .

Biography

Harriet Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California, November 4, 1924; BA, UC Berkeley, 1947; married Fred Rochlin, 1947; freelance writer and contributor of articles, feature stories, and reviews to magazines and scholarly journals; published novel, So far away (1981) and photodocumentary, Pioneer Jews: a new life in the far west (1984).