Bogart R. Leashore, Ph.D., ACSW, Dean and Professor, Hunter College School of Social Work
(February/March 2001)

Information about and recognition of African American pioneers in social work and social welfare are often neglected in social work education. Thus, it is not surprising that many social workers know little or nothing about them and the valuable contributions they made to our profession and to social welfare. With many pre-dating the formal establishment of social work as profession, these pioneers in social welfare include: Harriet Ross Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Ellen Craft and Catherine (Kathy) Ferguson all of whom were born into slavery. Ferguson (1774-1854) started the first Sunday School in New York City, and her home became a school for poor African American and white children in 1793. She operated the Murray Street Sabbath School for 40 years (White and Hampton, 1995).

Lugenia Burns Hope (1871-1947) dedicated her life to community work through a southern network of African American women's clubs. Her community work evolved into the Neighborhood Union, a model of self-help in matters of poverty, unemployment, illness, truancy and recreation. She assisted in creating the first African American School of Social Work, recently renamed by Clark Atlanta University as the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work. Young (1921-1971) held the master's degree in social work, served as dean of the Atlanta University School of Social Work, executive director of the National Urban League, and was president of NASW from 1960 until his death in 1971 (White and Hampton, 1995).

Other notable African American pioneers in social work include: Sara A. Collins Fernandis (1863-1951) who founded the first African American social settlements in the U.S. in Washington, D.C., and Rhode Island; Janie Porter Barrett (1865-1948) who developed the Locust Street Social Settlement and served as superintendent of the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls near Richmond; Anita Rose Williams (1891-1983) was the first African American Catholic social worker in the U.S. and the first African American supervisor employed by a Baltimore agency during the early 20th Century; Inabel Burns Lindsay (1900-1983), a pioneer in working with the elderly and in gerontological studies, was the founding dean of the Howard University School of Social Work and the University's first female academic dean; Edward Franklin Frazier (1894-1962) a sociologist, directed the Atlanta School of Social Work and in 1924 wrote that social work held "the greatest promise for improving race relations in the south"; and Lester Blackwell Granger (1896-1976) who headed the National Urban League from 1942-1961, contributed to the end of racial segregation in the armed services and used the group work and community organization methods as vehicles that helped in the development of occupational social work (White and Hampton, 1995).

Social work would do well to recognize and indeed claim many other African American social workers, social activists and reformers including: William Still and his anti-slavery work; W.E.B. Dubois who worked with Jane Addams and others to start the NAACP; George Edmund Haynes and the National Urban League Fellowship Program to train African American social workers; and Lawrence A. Oxley's development of the North Carolina Public Welfare Institutes which provided staff development and training for African American public welfare workers (Carlton-LaNey, 1994, 1999).

Those interested in knowing more about the contributions of African American pioneers for our profession should look forward to a new book published by the NASW Press entitled, African American Leadership in Social Welfare History: An Empowerment Tradition, edited by Professor Iris Carlton-LaNey, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. In the addition, the references used for this article provide rich insight about our profession's African American pioneers. Of particular note, the NYC Chapter should be very proud that our very own Dr. James R. Dumpson is included among the "living" pioneers in the Encyclopedia of Social Work (White and Hampton, 1995). Among his many achievements, Dr. Dumpson served as Vice President of the NY Community Trust, the first social worker to be named Commissioner of Welfare for NYC (1959), Dean of the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service, and was the first African American President of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) (White and Hampton, 1995).

Carlton-LaNey, I (1999, July). "African American Social Work Pioneers, 'Response to Need,'" Social Work, Vol. 4, No. 4. pp. 311-321.

Carlton-LaNey, I. (1994, March). "Special Issue on the Legacy of African-American Leadership in Social Work," Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Vol.XXI, No. 1.

White, B.W. and Hampton, D.M. (1995). "African American Pioneers in Social Work," Encyclopedia of Social Work, 19th Edition. Edwards, R.L. (Ed.). NASW Press.