#grace abbott

Character belongs to @domi-shiro

Photo Credit: Wikipedia

ABBOTT, Grace (Nov. 17, 1878-June 19, 1939), social worker, director of the federal Children's Bureau, was born in Grand Island, Nebr. . . .

She . . . moved to Chicago in 1907, and earned a master's degree in political science in 1909. She also did some work toward a law degree, but found herself more attracted by the life at Hull House, of which she had become a resident in 1908. Under the leadership of JANE ADDAMS, this pioneer social settlement offered not only intellectual stimulus—here, she and her sister later recalled, they first came in contact with the world of ideas—but also an environment informed by social concern. . . .

It was, however, as head of the Immigrants' Protective League that she first attracted notice. This organization was founded in 1908 by SOPHONISBA BRECKINRIDGE and other Chicago social workers to combat the hordes of unscrupulous cab drivers, lawyers, travel agents, "white slavers," and operators of fraudulent "savings banks" and "employment agencies" who were preying upon the masses of confused and often frightened immigrants then arriving in Chicago. . . .

In 1917 Grace Abbott accepted a longstanding invitation from JULIA LATHROP, the head of the federal Children's Bureau (and an old Hull House friend), to join the bureau's staff. The offer attracted her not only because the flow of immigrants had fallen off during the war but because the recent enactment of the first federal child labor law (1916) had strengthened the authority of the Children's Bureau. As head of the bureau's child labor division, Miss Abbott supervised the painstaking investigations—verification of birth dates, proof that illegally produced goods had in fact entered interstate commerce, etc.—which effective enforcement of the law demanded. In June 1918, however, the child labor law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. This discouraging development convinced Miss Abbott of the need for a constitutional amendment abolishing child labor, a cause she championed for the rest of her life. . . .

Although her cherished child labor amendment was never ratified by the required number of states, she was gratified in 1938 when at least a partial ban on child labor was effected through the Fair Labor Standards Act. In the spring of 1939 she was hospitalized with acute anemia, and that June she died at the age of sixty. Following Quaker services, her ashes were buried at Grand Island.

Working under somewhat trying circumstances, Grace Abbott achieved distinction in two different branches of social work. In a time of rising hostility toward immigrants, she contended steadily for liberal admission standards and against the exploitation of newcomers. Later, in a decade when reformist sentiment was at a low ebb, her strong voice in Washington was a continual reminder that social welfare was a legitimate—indeed an essential—concern of the state. Although her career did not stem from any conscious feminist bias, it encouraged those of her sex who were seeking a larger role in American life.

Special Collections is closed today, September 3rd, in honor of Labor Day. 

Pictured above is Grace Abbott as the United States delegate to the International Labor Organization conference, Geneva, Switzerland, 1937. From the UChicago Photographic Archive, apf1-00059.

Edith (left) and Grace Abbott during their years at University of Chicago

Edith and Grace Abbott grew up in the latter part of the nineteenth century in a middle-class family in Grand Island, Nebraska. Their father was a lawyer and served as Lieutenant Governor (1877-79) and their mother was an ardent supporter of women’s suffrage. The girls were raised as independent minds and in the spirit of community service that both of their parents strongly advocated and modeled. But their parents could not afford to send them to college, so each found their own means to enroll. Edith worked as a teacher and took correspondence classes. She eventually persuaded University of Chicago to award her a fellowship that enabled her to complete a PhD in economics in 1905, one of the first women to do so.

Edith went on to do postdoctoral work at the London School of Economics through a full fellowship. There she met Beatrice and Sidney Webb and became influenced by their thinking about the sources of and solutions for alleviating poverty. London is also where she became more familiar with the practical work in settlement houses. Later on, she would become a strong advocate of such progressive reforms by living in and working at the Jane Addams Hull House (Addams was the focus of an earlier entry in this blog).

Between 1908 and 1924 Edith worked as faculty at the University of Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, later to become the Graduate School of Social Service Administration. It was the first graduate program dedicated to this profession. In 1924 Edith was appointed Dean of this school, having become one of the most influential scholars on matters of childcare and social work. She was the first women to hold a deanship at University of Chicago.

Edith had a close relationship with her sister Grace, who also grew up with great academic and public service ambitions. They shared an interest in studying child welfare issues and improving the lives of immigrants. Together and on their own they contributed to enhancing social welfare policies through many studies and various forms of public advocacy and services. Grace completed her undergraduate and graduate studies closer to home, in Nebraska, but eventually moved to Chicago in 1907 to join he sister and work at the Hull House. She became very active in feminist and child welfare networks.

Grace was eventually asked to serve on the Child Labor Division of the U.S. Children’s Bureau (1917—1919 and 1921—1934). During this period she tried to get a constitutional amendment against child labor passed.  Though that effort failed, the points she made tirelessly to politicians and labor union leaders had an important impact on future behavior. Because of her work as a statistician and activist on behalf of social welfare Grace was asked to help draft the Social Security Act and worked for the Social Security Administration from 1934 until her death.  During that period of time, though working primarily in Washington, she also continued to teach at University of Chicago, where she held the title of Professor of public welfare.  She passed away in 1939 from cancer.