Alumni Profile
J. Arnold Feldman (1926-2003) and Aline (Winetraub) Feldman
BA'50, LLB'53 and BS'51
Civil rights advocates, Columbia, Md.
The Feldmans, pictured here with Brian Kearney (center), returned to Bloomington in 2003 to celebrate the 50-year reunion of Arnold's class at the School of Law.
J. Arnold Feldman and Aline (Winetraub) Feldman
As a student at Washington University in St. Louis, Aline Winetraub was interested in bringing people together. Promoting integration on campus was one of her aims. Two states away, in Bloomington, Ind., J. Arnold Feldman was active in the same cause. So when the young woman from Kansas met the young man from New Jersey, it didn't take long for their shared commitment to bring the two of them together. As Aline recalled in the Baltimore Sun's obituary for her husband in December 2003, it took only three dates to decide they were going to marry.
Arnold Feldman's long career with the federal government began in the Labor Department's Office of Equal Opportunity, and in 1995 he retired as chief of civil rights compliance of the Small Business Administration. His work on behalf of civil rights, however, was never limited to what he did nine to five. In a 2001 article in the Columbia (Md.) Flier, Feldman recalled a lifetime of activism. As an IU student on the G.I. Bill, he was involved in a movement to cancel the contracts of barbers who refused to cut the hair of black customers in the Memorial Union and, aiming to integrate Bloomington's restaurants, he organized a 3,000-student sit-down strike on the day of a Homecoming football game. While in law school, he helped draft the Indiana School Desegregation Act. After graduating, he became a labor organizer and educator for the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Early in his career with the federal government, he worked on the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, and throughout his life he was affiliated with organizations devoted to eradicating injustice in the communities where he lived.
In December 2001, the Howard County (Md.) Human Rights Commission honored Feldman with a Community Service Award. In 2002 the Maryland House of Representatives recognized his human rights efforts, and after Feldman's death in December 2003, the Maryland Association of Human Rights Agencies adopted a memorial resolution honoring his "outstanding service to the cause of civil and human rights, justice, and equality."
Aline, an artist, is known for her landscapes created using a Japanese woodcutting technique. Her prints are in many museum collections, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts. In 2001, she was one of only two American artists (of 44 total) invited to exhibit works at the London (England) Arts Council's 125th anniversary celebration. In 2002, the Maryland Arts Council honored her with a fine arts award.