This image appears on the Forward front page on October 25, 1945 with the headline “A Quarter of a Million at Zionist Gathering Send Support to Israel.” Just after the end of World War II, and three years before the founding of the State of Israel, New Yorkers gathered in Madison Square Park to demonstrate in favor of opening Palestine to stateless, displaced Jewish refugees.

This image also appeared in the same issue of the Forward, and shows a large group of young men and women who joined the protest representing high schools, Jewish culture clubs and other organizations.

As the Great Depression wore on, the Socialist Party organized protesters who demonstrated against unemployment and demanded immediate government aid. The Forward called for its readers to march in support of this demonstration by publishing the date and locale atop its masthead. The protest seen here took place near Columbus Circle, way beyond the downtown boundaries typically associated with social justice organizing within the Yiddish speaking immigrant community, and helped highlight this impactful issue.

In 1886, American labor unions chose May 1 as the starting day for a strike in favor of an 8-hour work day. From then on, it was a day to rally for workers’ rights and reformist causes. The Forward reported on these festivities, including field day sporting events by local unions and high-spirited performances that typically took place at Randall’s Island. This image is from a May Day celebration in the 1930s.

When police tried to evict 17 tenants from a working class Eastern European immigrant Jewish neighborhood in the Bronx, some 4,000 tenants participated in a “rent riot.” The strikers were successful – evicted families were allowed to stay and also obtained a rent reduction. This protest sparked similar acts of resistance in other neighborhoods across the city. The Forward often reported on, and called for support of, rent strikes and other protests for better living conditions.