Editing Judith Martin (section)

== Early life and career ==

Martin is the daughter of Helen and Jacob Perlman, both Jewish. Her father was born in 1898 in [[Białystok]], then part of the [[Russian Empire]], now in [[Poland]].  He immigrated to the United States in 1912. In 1925, he received his doctorate from the [[University of Wisconsin]], in economics. Jacob married Helen Aronson in 1935, and they moved to [[Washington, D.C.]], where Martin was born in 1938.<ref name="house">{{cite web|url=http://househistoryman.blogspot.com/2012/03/mystery-miss-manners-childhood-home-in.html|title=The House History Man: Mystery: Miss Manners Childhood Home in AU Park?|first=Paul|last=Williams|date=1 March 2012}}</ref>

Martin spent a significant part of her childhood in Washington, where she still lives and works, graduating from [[Jackson-Reed High School]] Class of 1955. She lived in various foreign capitals as a child, as her father, a [[United Nations]]<ref>''No Vulgar Hotel,'' p.  18.</ref> [[economist]], was frequently transferred. Martin graduated from [[Wellesley College]]<ref name=biod/> with a degree in English. Before she began the advice column, she was a journalist, covering social events at the [[White House]] and [[embassies]]; she then became a theater and [[film critic]].