A Son’s Journey

Author of the well-respected book, Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life, Samuel Freedman discussed the process behind his research and the makings of his mother’s biography during one of my classes. Freedman was very honest when responding to questions asked of him, and was open with information concerning his personal life. As a student, I was amazed at his ability to uncover information about an obscure past. As a reader, I was amazed at his ability to articulate details that might have otherwise been overshadowed.

Freedman is a professor at Columbia University, an author of many award winning books, and a popular columnist for the New York Times – quite the résumé. Who She Was was one of his most recent works, and it’s essentially a biography of his mother’s life, a life that he did not get to know very well. After his mother passed away, Freedman journeyed to discover the history that gave birth to his mother’s character, a journey that took him to a foreign country, and called for the revisiting of old friends. I applaud Freedman for the effort and the time he put forth in his venture, which produced a book that captured the essence of his mother very well. His method of researching was something he tried to convey to us that day, and I was very much influenced by his work in producing a Who She Was piece of my own.

Freedman uses many sources to build his mother’s past: old photographs, immigration records, interviews. Freedman was very attentive to the details of old photographs he had, and was able to piece together subtle information. For example, he deduced that it was Rosh Hashanah in a series of photographs because of the date and the clothing worn by the people in them. Also, with only past records and documents in hand, he created the environment that his mother grew up in – Samuel Freedman is a man who knows how to extract information from a variety of sources.

Freedman’s tribute to his mother is both moving and revealing. Many people can relate to his mother’s story one way or another, as an immigrant or as a parent, and many others can appreciate the story of a mother tied to her childhood fantasies while trying to make something of her life.