Grace Abbott

Grace Abbott (November 17, 1878 - June 19, 1939) was an educator, author, political lobbyist and respected social worker specifically focused on the advancement of child welfare. Younger sister to the equally renowned Edith Abbott, Grace Abbott was born in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1878. As eulogized by her sister Edith upon her death in 1939, “There was always infinite variety with Grace as a companion. Her resources were endless- and always unexpected” (Costin, 2003). A member of the Nebraska Hall of Fame, Grace Abbott’s contributions to the fields of sociology, education and politics have proven to be long-lasting.

Life

One of four children, Grace Abbott was raised in a home environment that placed an emphasis on education, religious independence and general equality. Through the teachings of their mother, Elizabeth, the Abbott children were made well aware of the historical injustices placed on Native Americans throughout the region of Grand Island. Paired with a knowledge of the women’s suffrage movement, Grace developed a concern for the oppressed that would later lead her into areas of child welfare and immigrant rights.

After graduating from Grand Island College in 1898, Grace worked as a high school teacher before embarking on a future career in the field of social work. In 1902, she began her graduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and again in 1904 at the University of Chicago. Upon relocating to Chicago in 1907, Abbott took up residency in the Jane Addams Hull House, a center for pro-active women engaging in areas such as the early feminist movement and social reform. Hull House also served as a safe haven for the poor. It was while there that Abbott would begin her career in social work while continuing her studies at the University of Chicago, eventually receiving a Ph.D. in political science in 1909.

In her final years, during a 1938 health checkup, doctors discovered that Grace suffered from the disease multiple myeloma. Her death would come about one year later at the age of sixty.

Work

During her time at Hull House, Abbott was a member of several committees and organizations for the protection of immigrants and the advancement of child welfare. She would serve as director of the Immigrants' Protective League and later, within the Department of Labor, as director of the Child Labor Division of the U.S. Children's Bureau. It was within this organization that Abbott was most successful, campaigning for the restriction of child labor and age limitations within the workplace.

Throughout this time Abbot also became an affiliate of the Women's Trade Union League alongside members Jane Addams and Eleanor Roosevelt. Abbott would eventually retire from government service in 1934 opting for professorship at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Administration, a graduate school co-founded in 1920 by her sister Edith.

Legacy

Grace Abbott was an author of several sociological texts, including The Immigrant and the Community (1917) and The Child and the State (1938). She was also responsible for incorporating social statistics and research into legislative policy-making, while launching numerous investigations into child labor violations within industrial factories throughout the United States.

Spending a portion of her time as a political lobbyist for social issues in Washington, D.C., Abbott pioneered the process of incorporating sociological data relating to child labor, juvenile delinquency and dependency into the lawmaking process. An affiliate with the Social Security Administration from 1934 until her death in 1939, she also helped to draft the Social Security Act of 1938. Throughout her lifetime Abbott chaired numerous government committees on both child and social welfare.

Grace Abbott’s historical contributions on the behalf of women, children and immigrants have often earned her the recognition as one of the most influential females in American history. Her great success in the field of social work reflected a long-lived determination to protect the nation’s most vulnerable populations.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Costin, Lela. Two Sisters for Social Justice: A Biography of Grace and Edith Abbott. Springfield, IL; University of Illinois Press, 2003. ISBN 0252071557

• Hymowitz, Carol and Weissman, Michaele. A History of Women in America. New York; Bantam Books, 1978. ISBN 0553269143

Publications

• Abbott, Grace. The Immigrant and the Community. New York: Century Co., 1917.

• Abbott, Grace. The Child and the State. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1938.

External Links

• The School of Social Service Administration | SSA Chicago. The University of Chicago: About SSA, SSA Tour Grace Abbott. A brief overview of the University of Chicago's School of Social Administration and it's faculty.

Credits

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