Social Welfare History Project awcampbell Page 3

West Virginia Colored Orphans Home (1899-1956)

By Sarah H. Shepherd, 2022. Black politician and businessman, Charles McGhee (1858-1937), was serving as a pastor in Bluefield, West Virginia when he was confronted by the lack of support for Black orphans after the death of his brother-in-law in a mining accident. In the Jim Crow South, few state resources, if any, were dedicated to African Americans. Black orphans were not admitted to white orphanages and faced significant hardships. McGhee founded an orphanage and school for these children.

Shepherd, Sarah H.

Sarah H. Shepherd is is the archivist at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Colored Conventions Movement

From Colored Conventions Project, 2022. Starting in 1830 and continuing until well after the Civil War, free, freed and self-emancipated Blacks came together in state and national political conventions. Tens of thousands of Black men and women from different walks of life traveled to attend meetings publicly advertised as “Colored Conventions.” where they strategized about how they might achieve educational, labor, and legal justice.

John J. Smallwood and the Temperance, Industrial and Collegiate Institute

John Jefferson Smallwood (September 19, 1863–September 29, 1912) was founder and president of the Temperance, Industrial and Collegiate Institute in Claremont, Va. Smallwood determinedly pursued his own education and his vision of educating others, eventually founding a school “For the Moral, Religious, Educational and Industrial Welfare of the Negro Youth.” Between 1892 and 1928, more than 2,000 students attended the Institute.

Randall, James I.

James I. Randall is a graduate student in History at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Randall has an interest in and appreciation for the intersections of global social histories, especially regarding their use to educate the general public about past movements for economic and social justice, and in linking their relevance to current affairs. He received…

Opening of the Virginia State School for Colored Deaf and Blind Children, 1909

The following is a transcription of a newspaper article published in The Times Dispatch (Richmond, Va.) on August 15, 1909, p. 18.
The story details the opening of the first residential school for African American blind and Deaf children in Virginia.

Education of Deaf and Blind African Americans in Virginia, 1909-2008

History of Virginia’s first school for African American deaf and blind children.

Conner, G. Jasper

G. Jasper Conner is a Ph. D. candidate in the Harrison Ruffin Tyler Department of History at William and Mary. His dissertation explores the history of disabled African Americans in the modern U.S. South. Combining archival research with oral history, his work uncovers the lived experiences of Black disabled people at residential schools, at work,…

Fellowship of Reconciliation USA

The Fellowship of Reconciliation USA (FOR-USA) was founded in 1915 by pacifists opposed to U.S. entry into World War I. Open to men, women, and people of all classes and races, its membership would include Jane Addams, Bishop Paul Jones, Grace Hutchins, A. J. Muste, and Bayard Rustin.

United War Work Campaign. November 11-18, 1918

The United War Work Campaign. November 11-18, 1918 February 7, 2022 The United War Work Campaign was a a one-week fundraising effort during World War I. At the request of President Woodrow Wilson, seven voluntary organizations — the National War Work Council of the YMCA, the War Work Council of the YWCA, the National…