Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0002
Anya Jabour
Chapter 1 uses Breckinridge’s unpublished memoirs in conjunction with other sources to explore Breckinridge’s family and childhood in Lexington, Kentucky. Breckinridge grew up surrounded by family; she also understood that she was responsible for maintaining the family tradition of public service. Both Breckinridge’s family legacy and her relationships with other family members would have a profound impact on her future career. In addition, her youthful exposure to social inequality and her attendance at the coeducational University of Kentucky heightened her awareness of racism and sexism, helping to pave the way for her future work on behalf of women’s rights and civil rights.
{"title":"Becoming a Breckinridge","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 1 uses Breckinridge’s unpublished memoirs in conjunction with other sources to explore Breckinridge’s family and childhood in Lexington, Kentucky. Breckinridge grew up surrounded by family; she also understood that she was responsible for maintaining the family tradition of public service. Both Breckinridge’s family legacy and her relationships with other family members would have a profound impact on her future career. In addition, her youthful exposure to social inequality and her attendance at the coeducational University of Kentucky heightened her awareness of racism and sexism, helping to pave the way for her future work on behalf of women’s rights and civil rights.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79270273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0011
Anya Jabour
Chapter 10 focuses on Breckinridge’s relationship with Edith Abbott. Breckinridge and Abbott’s long-term relationship was a remarkable partnership, advancing both women’s careers and activism as well as providing them with emotional sustenance and practical support. Acknowledging the shifting definitions of female sexuality that make it difficult to categorize this same-sex relationship as lesbianism, this chapter explores the dynamics and the significance of this lengthy relationship from the women’s first meeting in 1903 to Breckinridge’s death in 1948, demonstrating that Breckinridge and Abbott’s personal relationship fostered their professional success and their political effectiveness.
{"title":"“A and B”","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 10 focuses on Breckinridge’s relationship with Edith Abbott. Breckinridge and Abbott’s long-term relationship was a remarkable partnership, advancing both women’s careers and activism as well as providing them with emotional sustenance and practical support. Acknowledging the shifting definitions of female sexuality that make it difficult to categorize this same-sex relationship as lesbianism, this chapter explores the dynamics and the significance of this lengthy relationship from the women’s first meeting in 1903 to Breckinridge’s death in 1948, demonstrating that Breckinridge and Abbott’s personal relationship fostered their professional success and their political effectiveness.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90907590","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0001
Anya Jabour
The Introduction discusses how examining Breckinridge’s life work offers new insight into feminist activism in twentieth-century America. A careful study of Breckinridge’s life and work significantly reshapes our understanding of both the chronology and the contours of U.S. feminism, requiring us to acknowledge the continuity of feminist activism across the Progressive era and the New Deal, rethink the notion of feminist leadership, reevaluate academic endeavors as central to American activism, and recognize the diversity and the interrelatedness of the many issues that women considered “feminist” in modern America. By foregrounding the life and work of this forgotten feminist, my biography of Breckinridge presents a more complete--and more complex--story of women’s activism in modern America. Breckinridge’s lifelong commitment to social activism illuminates American women’s participation in the struggle for social justice both in the United States and beyond its borders.
{"title":"“A Woman’s Work” and “The Work of the World”","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"The Introduction discusses how examining Breckinridge’s life work offers new insight into feminist activism in twentieth-century America. A careful study of Breckinridge’s life and work significantly reshapes our understanding of both the chronology and the contours of U.S. feminism, requiring us to acknowledge the continuity of feminist activism across the Progressive era and the New Deal, rethink the notion of feminist leadership, reevaluate academic endeavors as central to American activism, and recognize the diversity and the interrelatedness of the many issues that women considered “feminist” in modern America. By foregrounding the life and work of this forgotten feminist, my biography of Breckinridge presents a more complete--and more complex--story of women’s activism in modern America. Breckinridge’s lifelong commitment to social activism illuminates American women’s participation in the struggle for social justice both in the United States and beyond its borders.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"86 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80982148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0004
Anya Jabour
highlights the challenges faced by “New Women” like Breckinridge, who struggled to balance duty to family with a calling to service. For nearly ten years, Breckinridge searched for a meaningful vocation while fulfilling her duty to her family. She taught school, practiced law, and traveled abroad, but she was unable to reconcile her professional goals with her family obligations. This chapter also addresses Breckinridge’s pursuit of higher education at the University of Chicago, where she earned both an MA in political science and a PhD in political economy and became the top-ranked member of the first graduating class of the University of Chicago’s new law school.
{"title":"Striving for the Ideal","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"highlights the challenges faced by “New Women” like Breckinridge, who struggled to balance duty to family with a calling to service. For nearly ten years, Breckinridge searched for a meaningful vocation while fulfilling her duty to her family. She taught school, practiced law, and traveled abroad, but she was unable to reconcile her professional goals with her family obligations. This chapter also addresses Breckinridge’s pursuit of higher education at the University of Chicago, where she earned both an MA in political science and a PhD in political economy and became the top-ranked member of the first graduating class of the University of Chicago’s new law school.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74140124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0006
Anya Jabour
Chapter 5 details Breckinridge’s collaboration with Edith Abbott at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, exploring the pair’s distinctive approach to the professionalization of social work and their consistent emphasis on public welfare programs. Building on their previous collaboration at the private Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, Breckinridge and Abbott worked in tandem to build the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and to make it the premier school of social work in the United States. This chapter examines the two women’s distinctive approach to social work, basing social welfare policy on social science research and emphasizing public programs rather than individual responsibility.
{"title":"The Other Chicago School","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 5 details Breckinridge’s collaboration with Edith Abbott at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration, exploring the pair’s distinctive approach to the professionalization of social work and their consistent emphasis on public welfare programs. Building on their previous collaboration at the private Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, Breckinridge and Abbott worked in tandem to build the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and to make it the premier school of social work in the United States. This chapter examines the two women’s distinctive approach to social work, basing social welfare policy on social science research and emphasizing public programs rather than individual responsibility.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74303241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0010
Anya Jabour
Chapter 9 traces Breckinridge’s contributions to the nascent welfare state during the Great Depression. Breckinridge and other activist women made it their mission to establish a national minimum for all Americans by crafting a federal welfare state. Building on the groundwork they had laid in the Progressive era, Breckinridge and her allies in the New Deal administration--especially in the U.S. Children’s Bureau--insisted that it was the federal government’s responsibility to care for all its citizens. They worked to establish federally funded social services, ban child labor, and establish a minimum wage under the Social Security Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
{"title":"Toward a National Minimum","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 9 traces Breckinridge’s contributions to the nascent welfare state during the Great Depression. Breckinridge and other activist women made it their mission to establish a national minimum for all Americans by crafting a federal welfare state. Building on the groundwork they had laid in the Progressive era, Breckinridge and her allies in the New Deal administration--especially in the U.S. Children’s Bureau--insisted that it was the federal government’s responsibility to care for all its citizens. They worked to establish federally funded social services, ban child labor, and establish a minimum wage under the Social Security Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81557943","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chapter 8 follows Breckinridge to the Seventh Pan-American Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, where she and other women activists in both the United States and Latin America vigorously debated the meaning of women’s equality. Breckinridge’s clashes with Doris Stevens, the U.S. leader of the Inter-American Commission of Women, over the proposed Equal Nationality Treaty and Equal Rights Treaty laid bare the conflicts inherent in Pan-American feminism. At the same time, U.S. and Latin American women’s activists’ diverse understandings of feminism helped to lay the groundwork for the idea that “women’s rights are human rights.”
{"title":"The Potential and Pitfalls of Pan-American Feminism","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvpj7hjj.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvpj7hjj.13","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 8 follows Breckinridge to the Seventh Pan-American Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, where she and other women activists in both the United States and Latin America vigorously debated the meaning of women’s equality. Breckinridge’s clashes with Doris Stevens, the U.S. leader of the Inter-American Commission of Women, over the proposed Equal Nationality Treaty and Equal Rights Treaty laid bare the conflicts inherent in Pan-American feminism. At the same time, U.S. and Latin American women’s activists’ diverse understandings of feminism helped to lay the groundwork for the idea that “women’s rights are human rights.”","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73622257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0008
Anya Jabour
Chapter 7 focuses on Breckinridge’s involvement in an international women’s movement dedicated to feminism, pacifism, and justice that flourished in the United States and Europe during and after World War I. This chapter explores the origins of Breckinridge’s pacifism, her introduction to feminist-pacifism during World War I, and her continuing commitment to internationalism in the isolationist 1920s. Breckinridge maintained her commitment to social justice and her participation in international social work circles even at the height of the Red Scare.
{"title":"Women against War","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 7 focuses on Breckinridge’s involvement in an international women’s movement dedicated to feminism, pacifism, and justice that flourished in the United States and Europe during and after World War I. This chapter explores the origins of Breckinridge’s pacifism, her introduction to feminist-pacifism during World War I, and her continuing commitment to internationalism in the isolationist 1920s. Breckinridge maintained her commitment to social justice and her participation in international social work circles even at the height of the Red Scare.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"112 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87942620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-09-01DOI: 10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0012
Anya Jabour
The Epilogue offers reflections on Breckinridge’s philosophy of “passionate patience” and the lasting legacy of her lifelong dedication to social justice activism. It also notes parallels between the issues that concerned her--including racial equality, immigrant rights, birth control, and health care--and those that engage activists today, suggesting the continuing importance of women’s activism in modern America.
{"title":"Passionate Patience","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5622/illinois/9780252042676.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"The Epilogue offers reflections on Breckinridge’s philosophy of “passionate patience” and the lasting legacy of her lifelong dedication to social justice activism. It also notes parallels between the issues that concerned her--including racial equality, immigrant rights, birth control, and health care--and those that engage activists today, suggesting the continuing importance of women’s activism in modern America.","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"362 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76548679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chapter 6 explores the “equality versus difference” debate--a defining feature of feminism in modern America--through the lens of Breckinridge’s work in both the national suffrage organization, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and its successor organization, the League of Women Voters. By exploring Breckinridge’s work with national feminist organizations during and after the suffrage struggle, this chapter highlights both women’s continuous activism and their ideological differences, especially their debate over the Equal Rights Amendment and so-called “protective legislation.”
{"title":"Defining Equality:","authors":"Anya Jabour","doi":"10.5406/j.ctvpj7hjj.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5406/j.ctvpj7hjj.11","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 6 explores the “equality versus difference” debate--a defining feature of feminism in modern America--through the lens of Breckinridge’s work in both the national suffrage organization, the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and its successor organization, the League of Women Voters. By exploring Breckinridge’s work with national feminist organizations during and after the suffrage struggle, this chapter highlights both women’s continuous activism and their ideological differences, especially their debate over the Equal Rights Amendment and so-called “protective legislation.”","PeriodicalId":21780,"journal":{"name":"Sophonisba Breckinridge","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89121511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}