Grace Abbott: Social Reformer And Social Work

Grace Abbott (1878-1939) was an influential social reformer and political activist, who provided numerous contributions in areas of child welfare and child labor legislation, immigrants’ rights, social security, and women’s rights. Using her intelligence, charismatic nature, and strong values, Abbott spent her life fighting tirelessly for what she believed in (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2004). To this day, her effects on legislation leave a strong impact in the field of social work.
Abbott and her sister, Edith, were two of the earliest and most influential figures in social work (Costin, 1983, p. 227). Like many other social work pioneers, they fought adamantly against the widespread notion at the time that vulnerable

In 1921, she was named head of the Children’s Bureau by President Warren G. Harding. She was also made a professor of public welfare at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration by her sister Edith, who was the school’s dean (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017). For two years, Abbott served as a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Council on Economic Security, where she helped to plan the social security system and draft the Social Security Act of 1935 (New World Encyclopedia, 2017). She also served as a United States delegate to the International Labor Organization in 1935 and 1937. She served as an editor of the Social Service Review from 1934 to 1939, and in 1930, she published her two-volume work, The Child and the State (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 2017).
Grace Abbott died of cancer in 1939. After her sister’s death, Edith Abbott recalled her telling her students about the uphill battle to success, saying that “the social worker…should accept this as a way of life” (Golus, 2008). Grace Abbott never married, which was a choice that many ambitious career women had to make at the time. She was often ridiculed for this, with one senator calling her and the women of the Children’s Bureau “female celibates…women too refined to have a husband,” in an argument against infant mortality legislation (Golus,

She authored numerous sociological texts that are still referenced today, and was responsible for incorporating research and statistical data into the legislative process. She also initiated several investigations into child labor infractions in factories across the country. Her help in drafting Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Social Security Act of 1935 provided a foundation for the future of social security. Her extensive contributions to the betterment of conditions for numerous disenfranchised groups earned her the title of one of American history’s most influential women, and in 1976 she was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame (New World Encyclopedia, 2017).
Grace Abbott was a pioneer for and an advocate of millions of vulnerable people. Her influence is prominent in important social programs, especially those relating to immigrants, juveniles, and women. As one of the earliest pioneers of social work, Abbott was an enormous influence for modern social programs and social