Search Results for: war on poverty

Child Welfare

Child Welfare: A Brief History by Linda Gordon, Ph.D., New York University, New York, NY Children have been central to the development of welfare programs in the United States. Indeed, sympathy for poor and neglected children was crucial in breaking through the strong free-market individualism that has been mobilized repeatedly to condemn public aid to…

Adoption

Written by Professor Ellen Herman, University of Oregon. “Since ancient times and in all human cultures, children have been transferred from adults who would not or could not be parents to adults who wanted them for love, labor, and property. Adoption’s close association with humanitarianism, upward mobility, and infertility, however, are uniquely modern phenomena.”

Founders

Founding Scholars Advisory Committee These distinguished scholars worked with John E. Hansan to shape the original Social Welfare History Project that launched in 2010. Their expertise as researchers and educators helped create the conceptual framework for the site, along with the scholarly articles they contributed. Allida Black, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at…

Burns, Eveline

As a staff member of the Presidential Committee on Economic Security in 1934, she helped formulate the specifics of the Social Security Act as it was eventually passed by Congress. She was later director of research for the Committee on Long-Range Work and Relief Policies of the National Resources Planning Board. The committee’s report published in 1942, shaped the public assistance and work programs as they developed throughout the 1940’s. Through her teaching at Columbia of comparative social security systems, she helped educate a generation of scholars in the United States who carried on important research in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Among the honors received by Dr. Burns, was a Florina Lasker Social Work Award in 1964 contributions “as an outstanding authority on social security systems throughout the world.”

Brace, Charles Loring

Charles Loring Brace (June 19, 1826 – August 11, 1890): Congregational Minister, Child Welfare Advocate, Founder of the New York Children’s Aid Society and Organizer of the Orphan’s Train Introduction: Charles Loring Brace was born into a well-connected New England family. At the time of his birth, his father, John Brace, was principal of…

Barnard, Kate

Catherine “Kate” Barnard (1875-1930) — Social Reformer, Political and Labor Activist, and First Woman Elected to a State Office as Commissioner of the Oklahoma Conference of Charities and Corrections. Editor’s Note: This entry is a composite of information from two sources, which are listed below. Catherine “Kate” Barnard was born born in Geneva, Nebraska on May…

Abbott, Grace

Grace Abbott (1878 – 1939) – Social Work Pioneer, Reformer, Hull House Resident and Chief of the Children’s Bureau. Article by John Sorensen, Founding Director of the Abbott Sisters Project

Social Welfare Developments, 1901-1950

Editor’s Note: All items are in chronological order in the year under which they are listed. 1902 The first State workmen’s compensation law is enacted in Maryland; it was declared unconstitutional in 1904. Homer Folks, founder and head of the New York State Charities Aid Association publishes Care of Destitute, Neglected and Delinquent Children. Conversion…

Social Welfare Developments, 1800-1850

1803 The first permanent Marine hospital is authorized to be built in Boston, Massachusetts. 1816 The New York Society for the Prevention of Poverty is established. The organization was to identify and eliminate the specific causes of poverty in New York City. 1817 Gallaudet University for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the first free U.S….

Lange, Dorothea

Dorothea Lange was one of the leading documentary photographers of the Depression and arguably the most influential. Some of her pictures were reproduced so repeatedly and widely that they became commonly understood symbols of the human suffering caused by the economic disaster. At the same time her work functioned to create popular support for New Deal programs.