Semah Unterman
Semah Unterman, née Zinsher, was born in New York City in 1920, the second of three girls. In high school, she started getting involved in political activism and the anti-fascist movement, participating in protests, and joining the American Student Union. She met Milton "Mickey" Unterman at a political meeting, whom she later married. They spent the World War II years in Baltimore, where they helped unionize the factory Mickey worked. They had two children, born in 1941 and 1946. After the war, they returned to New York City, where they both became teachers. During the McCarthy era, she was investigated by the Rapp-Coudert Committee. When she refused to testify, she lost her substitute teacher license and thus her job in the public school system. She worked at several private schools as a teacher before taking a job at the Walden School in New York City as the Director of the Lower School. In 1970, they moved to Vermont, and Unterman became the principal of Springfield Elementary School, where she stayed until her retirement in 1982. She served on the Belmont, Vermont Selectboard, the Planning Commission, and as a Justice of the Peace and president of the local library. Semah remained politically active, writing letters to the editor and speaking her beliefs. She and her husband traveled across the country to Cuba and various Mediterranean and Eastern-European countries. She passed away in 2012 at the age of 92.
Semah gives her family history, describing various family members, including her parents, aunts and uncles, and sisters. Semah talks about her childhood during the Depression and the beginning of her political activism in high school, joining the protest against the landing of the S.S. Bremen. Semah tells how she met her husband and provides some of his family history. She then describes their lives during the war, how they helped to unionize her husband's factory, and how their infant daughter almost died from a dysentery epidemic. She then digresses about her children's lives and families. Returning to her own life, Unterman discusses her career in education and local politics. She discusses her educational philosophy, which was significantly influenced by John Dewey.
In a follow-up interview conducted on September 2, 2005, Unterman explains how she put her educational views into action. Semah relates it to the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act; she believes that standardized testing generally only harms a child's education. Semah is in favor of Vermont's push to add preschool to the public school system. Concerning the political climate, she explains how she has "never been so politically depressed as [she is] now" and urges grassroots movements and popular pressure to bring change. She comments on how teaching critical thinking affects political activity. Finally, she talks about her daughter's childhood illness and traveling.
