Social Welfare History Project Organizations

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World

Founded in 1898 in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Arthur J. Riggs (1855-1936) and Benjamin Franklin Howard (1860-1918), the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (I.B.P.O.E.W) is an African American fraternal organization that supports its members and fights for their social, economic, and civic equality. Fraternal organizations provided unmeasurable aid, both financial and social, to their members throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Historical Black fraternal organizations were especially vital in providing access to services and opportunities withheld from African Americans in American society.

Reciprocal Aid: Fraternalism and Early Social Welfare History

By Sarah Shepherd. Fraternalism fulfilled a crucial role in society. It was a social club as well as an early form of social welfare through the principle of reciprocal aid.

Watts, Lucian Louis (1888 – 1974)

Lucian Louis Watts was a Virginia statesman who advocated for government services to support blind citizens. As the first Executive Secretary of the Virginia Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired, he promoted campaigns to prevent blindness, oversaw the development of educational programs for blind adults, and was instrumental in the introduction of sight-saving classes for children with impaired vision in Virginia’s public schools.

Ora Brown Stokes and the Richmond Neighborhood Association

Ora Brown Stokes founded and was the driving force behind the Richmond Neighborhood Association (RNA), an organization which has received little attention despite its centrality to social welfare work among Richmond’s African Americans between 1912 and 1924, particularly among children and young women.

The United Order of Tents of J.R. Giddings and Jollife Union

The United Order of Tents is a Christian benevolent organization, founded in 1867 by two formerly enslaved women, Annetta Minkins Lane of Norfolk, Va., and Harriet R. Taylor of Hampton, Va. The largely secret society is the oldest Black women’s organization in the United States.

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.

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.

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.

National Association of Black Social Workers

By Alice W. Campbell, 2021. The National Association of Black Social Workers was founded on May 8, 1968 in San Francisco, CA.