Rebecca Gratz was born on March 4, 1781, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1801, at the age of 20, Rebecca Gratz helped establish the Female Association for the Relief of Women and Children in Reduced Circumstances, which helped women whose families were suffering after the American Revolutionary War. In 1815, after seeing the need for an institution for orphans in Philadelphia, she was among those instrumental in founding the Philadelphia Orphan Asylum. Under Gratz' auspices, a Hebrew Sunday School, the first of its kind in America, was started in 1838. Gratz was also one of the founding members of the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society in 1819.
Gratz died on August 27, 1869, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was buried at Mikveh Israel Cemetery. Shortly after her death, her brother Hyman founded and financed Gratz College, a teachers’ college in Philadelphia, in her memory.
