Mosaic and Memory: My Life Then & Now

In 1940, at the age of twenty-one, Bea Silverberg stepped onto a train departing Akron, Ohio. Born to an Orthodox Jewish family, she was supposed to be what girls were supposed to be: thin on brains and thirsty for a husband. Yet she was born a tomboy. Arriving starry-eyed to International House at the University of Chicago, she thought to herself "From now on, I can be anyone." She could feel the stubs of wings beginning to lift the shoulders of her brown herringbone jacket. This vivid collection of memoirs spans Bea's long life fighting the injustice and convention thrust upon women and other oppressed people, and her eyes for the often-subtle magic of life. In her Mosaic, Bea shares her adventures in a United Nations (UNRRA) mission in Yugoslavia, campaigning for peace in West Virginia mine country, co-founding a shelter for survivors of domestic violence, and the complexity of raising a large family. In her seventies, following the death of her husband-partner Lou, Bea turned to sculpture and essay writing. At the time of this book's publishing, she is living in Cleveland, ninety-eight years old. Bea continues her adventures through her artwork, reading, and the stories of her family and friends who endlessly support her.

About the Author :
Bea Silverberg has lived nearly a century, born in a small Ohio town at the end of World War I, the daughter of immigrant Jewish parents. As an active tomboy-athlete as well as a good student, she completed her B.A. in history at the University of Akron while the Great Depression waned and Fascism waxed in the late nineteen-thirties. On scholarship to the University of Chicago, she began to sprout the wings to become a world citizen, a worker for peace and equal rights for all. She received an M.A. in Modern European and Russian history. First to Washington DC where she worked during World War II and then to Belgrade, Yugoslavia for two years joining a United Nations relief effort (UNRRA). Back home in New York City and West Virginia in the coal mining areas, she helped in the presidential campaign for Henry Wallace in 1948 for peace and jobs. Soon after, she married and raised a large family in her "cocoon" decade. Then to Cleveland, Ohio and a new world of activism-women's peace organization, civil rights struggle, anti-Vietnam war activities. Her work was with Headstart families both in Cleveland and later in Ashtabula while living in an ideal country site along a river. She co-founded Homesafe, an agency to help survivors of domestic violence, and continued peace work through a local agency council. Shortly after returning to Cleveland in 1989 her husband-partner Lou died. Still in her early seventies, Bea turned to clay sculpture and to memoir and essay writing. At the time of this book's publishing, she is living in Cleveland, ninety-eight years old. Bea continues her adventures through her artwork, reading, and rich relationships with her loving family and many friends who endlessly support her thriving. (February 2018)