Evan, this is a great article and really expands the life of Jan Gay. Thank you. You mention that her father was Ben Reitman who had a relationship with Emma Goldman. Emma started a progressive school in NYC and had Abby and John Russell Coryell as instructors. Students took co-ed physical education in the nude. John Russell Coryell is reported by a number of nudist pioneers as being the "father of American nudism." Coryell's grandson had memories of Emma visiting their lakeside home not too far north of NYC and going skinny-dipping. Perhaps Jan received some seeding for her nudist interests through her father, Emma, and the Coryells.
"I was about eight years old when I met the woman from whom I received my middle name, Franziska Boas, daughter of anthropologists Franz Boas and Marie Krackowize.
Only when I began to write this response and explore my memory of that meeting did I finally research my namesake, discovering that in 1933 she had founded the interracial Boas School of Dance in New York, which brought people together across all defined lines of identity to practice creative expression, psychological exploration, and social activism for civil rights and interracial justice. When rising costs of living finally forced her to leave New York in 1950, she moved to Rome, Georgia, Franziska as Head of the Dance and Physical Education Department at Shorter College, where she taught dance to my mother. She became a member of the Georgia Council on Human Relations, which worked with worked with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, the American Friends Service Committee, the YMCA, and the YWCA in the fight for integration and against discrimination in all of its forms. She also helped to found the Rome, GA Council on Human Relations.
I found this formerly unknown history of my namesake mindblowing, in light of my own central concerns and activism over the last eleven years. I was especially struck by how I have accidently followed in my namesake’s footsteps through my service on the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. My mother had only spoken of Franziska as her dance teacher and one of the strongest people she had ever known.
What I remember of the meeting with Franziska Boas is visiting her home, full of crafts and art from all over the world, being impressed with her friendliness and dignity and meeting her partner, Jan Gay. I remember that Jan told good stories and introduced me to goat cheese, which I thought was very strange at the time, as strange as I found my namesake Franziska being married to a woman. But along with that sense of strangeness for my eight-year old self, my remembered impressions of their home and their partnership are of beauty, friendliness, adventure, strength, generosity, and grounded, level-headed warmth."
It's largely about Boas, but I feel it provides a tender counterpoint to the chaotic description of this time in Gay's life in the Warhol biography.
Anyway, yes, I find her fascinating. Interestingly, her story is also apparently the springboard for the novel Blackouts, which I have yet to read.
An excellent and fascinating story in its own right, but I'm also fascinated by the story of her dad, 'king of the hobos' and Emma Goldman's lover. Radical NYC of the early 20th century is such a wonderland of magnifcent stories... better even than the Beat Years later on, I think.
Evan, this is a great article and really expands the life of Jan Gay. Thank you. You mention that her father was Ben Reitman who had a relationship with Emma Goldman. Emma started a progressive school in NYC and had Abby and John Russell Coryell as instructors. Students took co-ed physical education in the nude. John Russell Coryell is reported by a number of nudist pioneers as being the "father of American nudism." Coryell's grandson had memories of Emma visiting their lakeside home not too far north of NYC and going skinny-dipping. Perhaps Jan received some seeding for her nudist interests through her father, Emma, and the Coryells.
Interesting connection!!
Interesting article, as always. One little correction - Emma Goldman's name is not correct in the picture center caption.
Thank you!
This was fantastic! I learned so much- thank you for preserving Jan's history. Was this the origin of your 'Naked Age' podcast name?
Indeed it was!
I found an interesting and remarkably heartwarming mention of Jan Gay in this coming out story: https://www.pghlesbian.com/2017/10/helen-51-came-out-as-bisexual-in-the-army-national-guard-amplify/
"I was about eight years old when I met the woman from whom I received my middle name, Franziska Boas, daughter of anthropologists Franz Boas and Marie Krackowize.
Only when I began to write this response and explore my memory of that meeting did I finally research my namesake, discovering that in 1933 she had founded the interracial Boas School of Dance in New York, which brought people together across all defined lines of identity to practice creative expression, psychological exploration, and social activism for civil rights and interracial justice. When rising costs of living finally forced her to leave New York in 1950, she moved to Rome, Georgia, Franziska as Head of the Dance and Physical Education Department at Shorter College, where she taught dance to my mother. She became a member of the Georgia Council on Human Relations, which worked with worked with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress of Racial Equality, the American Friends Service Committee, the YMCA, and the YWCA in the fight for integration and against discrimination in all of its forms. She also helped to found the Rome, GA Council on Human Relations.
I found this formerly unknown history of my namesake mindblowing, in light of my own central concerns and activism over the last eleven years. I was especially struck by how I have accidently followed in my namesake’s footsteps through my service on the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations. My mother had only spoken of Franziska as her dance teacher and one of the strongest people she had ever known.
What I remember of the meeting with Franziska Boas is visiting her home, full of crafts and art from all over the world, being impressed with her friendliness and dignity and meeting her partner, Jan Gay. I remember that Jan told good stories and introduced me to goat cheese, which I thought was very strange at the time, as strange as I found my namesake Franziska being married to a woman. But along with that sense of strangeness for my eight-year old self, my remembered impressions of their home and their partnership are of beauty, friendliness, adventure, strength, generosity, and grounded, level-headed warmth."
It's largely about Boas, but I feel it provides a tender counterpoint to the chaotic description of this time in Gay's life in the Warhol biography.
Anyway, yes, I find her fascinating. Interestingly, her story is also apparently the springboard for the novel Blackouts, which I have yet to read.
Lovely, thank you for sharing!
A great article about the personality which was unknown to many of us. Her work for the nudism will be always remembered..It's an untold story...
Thank you so much for this work! Super cool.
An excellent and fascinating story in its own right, but I'm also fascinated by the story of her dad, 'king of the hobos' and Emma Goldman's lover. Radical NYC of the early 20th century is such a wonderland of magnifcent stories... better even than the Beat Years later on, I think.