Intersectionality and identity salience over time: the case of Rose Pesotta and the Holocaust

Purpose The article explores how intersectional identities change their salience over time based on changes in perceived discriminatory practices. To advance this dynamic approach to intersectionality, the article offers a case study of changes in American labor organizer Rose Pesotta’s approach to the salience of her Jewish background after she learned about the murder of her family in the Nazi Holocaust during the Second World War. Design/methodology/approach The primary methodology involved analyzing unpublished primary sources, such as letters and memos dealing with Rose Pesotta’s response to learning about the murder of her family, as well as two memoirs written by Pesotta. Findings Archival research shows that from 1922 to 1944 Pesotta’s approach to her job choices emphasized her class and gender rather than her religious background as a Jew. Her perspective on her childhood in Bread Upon the Waters, a memoir she wrote during this period, also emphasized class issues rather than the religious observances of her childhood community. Beginning in 1945, Pesotta sought jobs in organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League, where she combined her background as a labor organizer with a desire to help Jews respond to antisemitism. A second memoir, published in 1958, gives a detailed, warm appreciation of the religious dimension of her childhood. Originality/value This article forwards the mission of suggesting how a contemporary academic concept, such as intersectional analysis, can help scholars to understand behavior in different periods of management history. In addition, the article extends research on the place of female labor leaders in the early twentieth century in America to encompass an analysis of intersectional sites of religious as well as class and gender identity. The research promotes the use of archival sources to understand issues in management history.