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General
Fact Sheets
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Social Work History
- Since the first social work class was offered in the summer of
1898 at Columbia University, social workers have led the way developing
private and charitable organizations to serve people in need. Social
workers continue to address the needs of society and bring our
nation’s social problems to the public’s attention.
- Today, Americans enjoy many privileges because early social workers
saw miseries and injustices and took action, inspiring others along
the way. Many of the benefits we take for granted came about because
social workers—working with families and institutions—spoke
out against abuse and neglect.
- The civil rights of all people regardless of gender,
race, faith, or sexual orientation are protected.
- Workers enjoy unemployment insurance, disability
pay, worker’s compensation and Social Security.
- People with mental illness and developmental disabilities
are now afforded humane treatment.
- Medicaid and Medicare give poor, disabled and elderly
people access to health care.
- Society seeks to prevent child abuse and neglect.
- Treatment for mental illness and substance abuse
is gradually losing its stigma.
- The social work profession celebrated its Centennial in 1998.
That year, several important artifacts from across the country
were donated to the Smithsonian Institution to commemorate 100
years of professional social work in the United States.
- Social work pioneer Jane Addams was one of the first women to
receive a Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded in 1931. Known best
for establishing settlement houses in Chicago for immigrants in
the early 1900s, Addams was a dedicated community organizer and
peace activist.
- • Frances Perkins, a social worker, was the first woman
to be appointed to the cabinet of a U.S. President. As President
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor, Perkins drafted
much of the New Deal legislation in the 1940s.
- Social worker and civil rights trailblazer Whitney M. Young,
Jr. became the executive director of the National Urban League
while serving as dean for the Atlanta School of Social Work. He
also served as president of NASW in the late 1960s. A noted expert
in American race relations, Time Magazine acknowledged Young as
a key inspiration for President Johnson’s War on Poverty.
- Other famous social workers include Harry Hopkins (Works Progress
Administration), Dorothy Height (National Council of Negro Women), and Jeanette
Rankin (the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress).
RESOURCES:
Video: Legacies of Social Change: 100 Years of
Professional Social Work in the United States available from NASW
Press at www.socialworkers.org.
Barker, Robert L. (1998) Milestones in the Development of Social
Work and Social Welfare Washington, DC NASW Press.
Edwards, Richard L. (Ed.-in-Chief) (1995) Encyclopedia of Social
Work, 19th Edition
Washington, DC NASW Press.
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