Chapter 4



Chapter 4

Q1: The Freedmen's Bureau was the first federal welfare agency between 1865 and 1869. Why was the Freedmen's Bureau significant in the development of social welfare? In other words, what were its contributions then and now?

Answer: Impacting nearly every aspect of life in the post- Civil War South, the Freedmen's Bureau played a critical role during a major era of social reconstruction in American history. On March 3, 1865, Congress passed the Freedmen's Bureau Bill, authorizing the creation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. Among the Bureau's main responsibilities were the provision of food, clothing, medical assistance, and social services to freedmen and White refugees.

Among the Bureau's most widely recognized achievements are the strides it made in assisting former slaves to obtain an education. Citing the many purported dangers of having an educated Black populace, many southern states had passed legislation in the first half of the 19th century that made it illegal to teach slaves to read or write.

Q2: In 1889, Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago. This is a very significant event in the development of social welfare and the social work profession. Why?

Answer: Hull-House, founded in 1889 in Chicago by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, was the first Midwestern social settlement. Housed in a rundown mansion in the middle of Chicago's slums, it was designed to bring various segments of society together by crossing boundaries of class and ethnicity. Adams's and Starr's simply stated mission was to be "good neighbors." The United States was rapidly diversifying in the mid- to late 1800s as it began absorbing a large influx of European immigrants attracted to the opportunities offered by industrialization. One of the chief aims of Hull-House was to ameliorate the accompanying dehumanizing conditions, such as overcrowding and sweatshop ...