Search Results for: woman suffrage

NCSW Part 6: A Century of Concern 1873-1973: Provision and Management of Social Services

Imagine a network of rural villages and surrounding farms — populations of 2,000 are large. Slow transportation makes them physically isolated and economically and socially self-sufficient. Most citizens are called yeoman farmers: they own and work their land. They are militant Protestants, likely to be of a single denomination and congregated in a single church. They are democrats, proud of their revolution, jealous of their rights, scorning the pretensions of European aristocracy. They are said to be friendly and generous with neighbors and strangers, but acquisitive and zealous for the main chance. Such communities were most clearly realized in the New England towns that Alexis de Tocqueville described in 1835 and in the settlements of religious groups, such as the Mormons. In many places settlers were too few and scattered to establish close ties, but where they could they did.

Settlement Houses: How It All Began

The following is based on research by Albert J. Kennedy, summarizing the specific ways in which settlements enriched or improved neighborhood life during the first sixty years.

Terrell, Mary Church

Mary Church Terrell was one of the first African American women to receive a college degree. She was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Colored Women’s League of Washington. She also helped found the National Association of Colored Women, and served as its first national president. The Mary Church Terrell house in the LeDroit Park neighborhood of Washington was named a National Historic Landmark

Dewson, Mary

Mary Williams Dewson (1874-1962) — Social Reformer, Suffragist, Government Official, and Organizer of Women for the National Democratic Party. Introduction: Mary Williams Dewson, commonly known as “Molly” Dewson was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on February 18, 1874, the youngest of six children. Because of her father’s poor health, her mother became the backbone…

Simkhovitch, Mary Kingsbury

Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch — (September 8, 1867 – November 15, 1951): Social Worker, Progressive, Social Reformer, Academic and Founder of Greenwich House in New York City. Introduction: Mary Melinda Kingsbury was born in Chestnut Hill, MA, a suburb of Boston. Her parents were: Colonel Isaac Franklin Kingsbury and Laura Davis Holmes Kingsbury. She entered…

Stone, Lucy

Lucy Stone (August 13, 1818 – October 18, 1893) – Abolitionist, Lecturer, and Reformer By Angelique Brown, MSW Introduction: A U.S. pioneer in the Woman’s Suffrage movement, Lucy Stone was also an abolitionist, lecturer, and social reformer. A woman of independent spirit, she is widely known for achieving several “firsts:” as the first woman in…

National Women’s Trade Union League

The National Women’s Trade Union League of America (NWTUL) was established in Boston, MA in 1903, at the convention of the American Federation of Labor. It was organized as a coalition of working-class women, professional reformers, and women from wealthy and prominent families. Its purpose was to “assist in the organization of women wage workers into trade unions and thereby to help them secure conditions necessary for healthful and efficient work and to obtain a just reward for such work.”

The 19th Amendment

The 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest.

Roosevelt, Eleanor: The Women’s Movement

Eleanor Roosevelt (ER) became aware of the barriers women faced while working with other women on other social justice issues. Although she did work in a settlement house and joined the National Consumers League before she married, ER’s great introduction to the women’s network occurred in the immediate post World War I period when she worked with the International Congress of Working Women and the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (WILPF) to address the causes of poverty and war.