Alice Paul (1885 – 1977): Social Worker, Militant Activist and Suffragette Introduction: Alice Stokes Paul was the architect of some of the most outstanding political achievements on behalf of women in the 20th century. Born on January 11, 1885 to Quaker parents in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, Alice Paul dedicated her life to the…
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Lathrop, Julia Clifford
Julia Clifford Lathrop (1858-1932): First Chief of the Children’s Bureau and Advocate for Enactment of the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy Act of 1921
Continue Reading »Hillman, Arthur J.
Arthur J. Hillman ( 1909- 1985): Sociologist, Educator and Director of the Training Center of the National Federation of Settlements and Neighborhood Centers Introduction: Professor Arthur Hillman spent his career studying and developing the fields of urban planning, urban renewal, social work, and urban sociology. In 1960 he was selected to direct the National Federation…
Continue Reading »Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls
The residents of the Industrial School were, for the most part, delinquent or dependent colored girls sentenced to prison by local judges and then paroled to the school. There were no foster homes for colored girls who needed care and jail or prison was the only alternative. It is reported that several of the girls were “feeble minded” and a few arrived with contagious diseases…the goal of the school was to teach self-direction and character building with the expectation that… a girl could be “paroled” to a private family in the Richmond area and work for normal wages.
Continue Reading »National Conference of Charities and Correction
National Conference of Charities and Correction (1874-1917): Forerunner of the National Conference of Social Welfare By John E. Hansan, Ph.D. The Beginning: In February 1872, Frederick H. Wines, secretary of the Illinois Board of State Commissioners of Public Charities, and Andrew E. Elmore, president of the Wisconsin State Board of Charities and Reform spent a…
Continue Reading »Chicago Orphan Asylum
1849 – 1949 By RUTH ORTON CAMP Note: Mrs. Ruth Orton Camp was an active board member and sometime committee chair of the Chicago Orphan Asylum from 1934 till at least 1950. Mrs. Camp also served as acting director of Hull-House Association for nine months in 1943 until Russell Ballard was selected to be the…
Continue Reading »Children of Circumstance: Part III
CHILDREN OF CIRCUMSTANCE PART 3 (1926–1936) A History Of The First 125 Years (1849-1974) Of The Chicago Child Care Society. By: Clare L. McCausland (Note 1: The material that follows consists of long excerpts from the book and copied here with permission of the Chicago Child Care Society.) (Note 2: The Chicago Child Care Society…
Continue Reading »Three Notable African American Women in Early Child Welfare
Written by Wilma Peeples-Wilkins, Boston University. “For the most part, social welfare history has focused on efforts to protect dependent and delinquent white immigrant children. Information on the care of African American children has been excluded. Because of racial separation and discrimination, information describing the care of African American children has often been left out. It is important to call special attention to this situation.”
Continue Reading »Widows and Waifs
Written by Dr. June Hopkins, Armstrong Atlantic State University. This essay investigates the connections between the child-saving movement to reform orphanages and the widows’ pension movement in New York City during the Progressive Era.
Continue Reading »Widows’ Pensions
Widows’ Pensions by Dr. June Hopkins, Armstrong Atlantic State University Note: This article is an excerpt from Dr. Hopkins’ book, Harry Hopkins: Sudden Hero, Brash Reformer. “There is always the danger that in our dread of making people dependent we shall cease to do good for fear of doing harm.” Harry Hopkins, 1914 The Origins…
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