Shirley Novick, born Shulamit Rabinowitz, grew up in a small village in Poland during World War I; fleeing to the United States by way of Canada during World War II and losing her parents to the Nazis; toiling for 47 years in New York City's garment district, where she became a labor activist; reuniting with her sisters, who had emigrated to Palestine; and taking part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Shirley was married to Pesakh "Paul" Novick, editor of the Yiddish Daily, Morgen Freiheit, for 29 years until his death in 1989.