Edward Berkowitz, Ph. D., Professor of History and Public Policy and Public Administration and Director of the Program in History and Public Policy, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. His areas of expertise include disability and social security. His most recent monograph, The Other Welfare: Supplemental Security Income and U.S. Social Policy, appeared with Cornell University…
Continue Reading »Dr. Aaron Beckerman (d. 2012) received his MSW from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Social Work in 1951 and a Doctorate in Social Welfare from Columbia University, School of Social Work in 1953. Early in his professional career, Dr. Beckerman worked 12 years as a social work practitioner/supervisor in community centers and psychiatric hospitals. From…
Continue Reading »The acceptance of the ADA by President George Bush and his administration was far from grudging. It fit a long pattern of Republican support for disability policy that emphasized independence in the labor force over dependence on the welfare rolls.
Continue Reading »On August 15, 1935, the Social Security Act established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped.
Continue Reading »The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was a cornerstone of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” (McLaughlin, 1975). This law brought education into the forefront of the national assault on poverty and represented a landmark commitment to equal access to quality education.
Continue Reading »Overview: The Older Americans Act of 1965 The Older Americans Act was originally signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 14, 1965. It established the Administration on Aging within the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and called for the creation of State Units on Aging. William Bechill was named first…
Continue Reading »President Johnson issued a call for a strong voting rights law, and hearings began soon thereafter on the bill that would become the Voting Rights Act.
Continue Reading »On August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people from across the nation came together in Washington, D.C. to peacefully demonstrate their support for the passage of a meaningful civil rights bill, an end to racial segregation in schools and the creation of jobs for the unemployed. It was the largest demonstration ever held in the nation’s capital, and one of the first to have extensive television coverage. The march is remembered too as the occasion for Reverend Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Continue Reading »Original documents for the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom
Continue Reading »Original documents prepared for the March on Washington For Jobs and Freedom
Continue Reading »