Wilma Peebles-Wilkins, Ph.D., is Dean Emeritus at Boston University and a former scholar at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. She served for several years as Dean, Boston University School of Social Work, Boston, MA. Dr. Peebles-Wilkins has written and published extensively on the history of Blacks in American social welfare. Among her publications are: Janie Porter Barrett and the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls: Community Response to the Needs of African American Children in the journal Child Welfare, and twenty-one biographical essays on African Americans in the NASW Encyclopedia of Social Work. Dr. Peebles-Wilkins has more than 39 years of experience as a social work practitioner, administrator, and educator.