Golda Meir

==Early life==
[[File:Golda Meir-Y.jpg|thumb|left|Golda Mabovitch, before 1910]]
Golda Mabovitch was born into a [[Ukrainian-Jewish]] family<ref>{{Cite web|title=Golda Meir becomes Israeli Prime Minister {{!}} History Today|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/golda-meir-becomes-israeli-prime-minister|access-date=2021-04-26|website=www.historytoday.com}}</ref> in downtown [[Kiev]] in what was then the [[Russian Empire]] on May 3, 1898.<ref>{{Cite news|title="Мати Ізраїлю" з Києва: 120 років від дня народження Ґолди Меїр|url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/29204774.html|access-date=2021-05-27|website=Радіо Свобода|date=February 21, 2021 |language=uk|last1=Костюк |first1=Богдана }}</ref> She was the daughter of Blume Neiditch (died 1951) and Moshe Mabovitch (died 1944), a carpenter. Meir wrote in her autobiography that her earliest memories were of her father boarding up the front door in response to rumours of an imminent [[pogrom]]. She had two sisters, Sheyna (born 1889) and Tzipke (born 1902), as well as five other siblings who died in childhood.

Meir's father, Moshe, left the country to find work in [[New York City]] in 1903.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Golda Meir's American Roots |url=http://ajhs.org/scholarship/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=272 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426080554/http://ajhs.org/scholarship/chapters/chapter.cfm?documentID=272 |archive-date=April 26, 2011 |access-date=June 27, 2016 |publisher=American Jewish Historical Society}}</ref> In his absence, the rest of the family moved to [[Pinsk]] (present-day [[Belarus]]) to join her mother's family. In 1905, Moshe moved to [[Milwaukee]], Wisconsin, in search of higher-paying work, and found employment in the workshops of the local [[railroad yard]]. The following year, he had saved up enough money to bring his family to the United States. Golda along with her mother and sisters landed in [[Quebec]] and traveled to Milwaukee by train.<ref name=chronology>[https://www.msudenver.edu/golda-meir-center/golda-meir/chronology/ Chronology of Golda Meir]</ref>

Meir's mother ran a grocery store on Milwaukee's north side. By age eight, Meir was often put in charge of watching the store when her mother went to buy supplies. She attended the Fourth Street Grade School (now [[Golda Meir School]]) from 1906 to 1912. A leader early on, she and a close friend, Regina Hamburger, organized the American Young Sisters Society, a fundraiser to pay for her classmates' textbooks in 1908. As part of the organization's activities, she rented a hall and scheduled a public meeting for the event. Despite frequent tardiness due to having to work in her mother's store, she graduated as [[valedictorian]] of her class.<ref name=chronology/>

In 1912, she began studying at [[North Division High School (Milwaukee)|North Division High School]] and worked part-time. Her employers included [[Schuster's]] department store and the [[Milwaukee Public Library]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jim Higgins |date=November 27, 2017 |title=Author recounts Golda Meir's career as a leader, which began as a schoolgirl in Milwaukee |work=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]] |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/books/2017/11/27/author-recounts-golda-meirs-career-leader-which-began-schoolgirl-milwaukee/892209001/ |access-date=November 27, 2017}}</ref><ref name="MPL">{{Cite web |date=March 15, 2017 |title=Goldie Mabowehz (Golda Meir), from the Milwaukee Public Library to Prime Minister of Israel |url=https://mpl.org/blog/now/goldie-mabowehz-golda-meir-from-the-milwaukee-public-library-to-prime-minister-of-israel?fontsize=bigfont |access-date=November 27, 2017 |publisher=[[Milwaukee Public Library]]}}</ref> Her mother wanted Golda to leave school and marry, but she declined.

On 17 February 1913, Meir took a train to live with her married sister, Sheyna Korngold, in [[Denver]], Colorado.<ref>{{Cite web |title=North Denver's Most Famous Former Resident? – The Denver North Star |date=April 25, 2022 |url=https://www.denvernorthstar.com/north-denvers-most-famous-former-resident/ |access-date=2023-02-17 |language=en-US}}</ref> There, Meir attended [[North High School (Denver, Colorado)|North High School]].<ref name="chronology" /> The Korngolds held intellectual evenings at their home, where Meir was exposed to debates on [[Zionism]], literature, [[women's suffrage]], trade unionism, and more. In her autobiography, she wrote: "To the extent that my own future convictions were shaped and given form&nbsp; ... those talk-filled nights in Denver played a considerable role."

Around 1913, she began dating her future husband Morris Meyerson, a sign painter and socialist.<ref name="MSCD">[https://www.msudenver.edu/golda/goldameir/chronologyofgoldameir/ Golda Meir: An Outline Of A Life] Metropolitan State College of Denver, mscd.edu; accessed November 22, 2015.</ref><ref name="UWM">{{Cite web |title=Golda Meir (1898–1978) |url=http://uwm.edu/libraries/about/golda/ |access-date=December 8, 2017 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |language=en-US}}</ref>