Q1:
Social welfare programs can generally be categorized into one of two groups. They are either classified as social insurance programs or public assistance programs. These two programs differ in terms of criteria of eligibility. Social insurance programs are generally universal, in that almost everyone can have access to these programs no matter their income and the majority of the population will be eligible one time or another during their lifetime, as long as they worked or paid into the system for at least ten years or more (Stern, 2013). Such is the case for The Social Security Act in which President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into existence in August of 1935. The act was created to provide for the general welfare of various kinds
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When the Radical Republicans came into power, African Americans were admitted into institutions including insane asylums and facilities especially for the deaf, blind and mute, not to mention orphanages and hospitals, etc. The idea was to move from a system that exclusively excluded African-Americans to one that was instead segregated, but very much equal to the facilities that would take their white counterparts. “By 1890 the announced goal of southern welfare policy was the acceptance of blacks in institutions on the basis of separate but equal treatment” (Rabinowitz, 1974). Of course, in funding, facilities and often times faculty, these public welfare institutions were far from equal and inevitably aided and abetted marginality amongst African-Americans in the American South (Stern, …show more content…
Although she is severely beaten by her father as a result, the problem to be tackled by the intervention is instead her “kleptomania.” Although African- Americans at the time most likely would not have been treated the same way as other immigrant communities, we will assume for the sake of this prompt that the family in question would have had access to the mercy of charitable organizations and settlement houses and their respective resources (Danziger PowerPoint Notes, September 23, 2014) (Stern, 2013). Because there was a large, public outcry to stop, or at least curb to some degree, child labor, I would like to believe that the social workers given the resources would have found a way for the girl to continue her formal and music education, perhaps in a settlement house in a day program. One of the primary reasons for the girl’s stealing that was mentioned was desire to be able to afford her music education. If the parents had better jobs or something to supplement their income, the girl might not have had to leave school and find work to continue her music education which is where a charity organization or settlement house might have played a role. Settlement houses’ goals often included child and adult education, some resources the family could have definitely taken into consideration (Trattner, 1974). Kindergarten and other day care programs may
During the four decades following reconstruction, the position of the Negro in America steadily deteriorated. The hopes and aspirations of the freedmen for full citizenship rights were shattered after the federal government betrayed the Negro and restored white supremacist control to the South. Blacks were left at the mercy of ex-slaveholders and former Confederates, as the United States government adopted a laissez-faire policy regarding the “Negro problem” in the South. The era of Jim Crow brought to the American Negro disfranchisement, social, educational, and occupational discrimination, mass mob violence, murder, and lynching. Under a sort of peonage, black people were deprived of their civil and human rights and reduced to a status of quasi-slavery or “second-class” citizenship. Strict legal segregation of public facilities in the southern states was strengthened in 1896 by the Supreme Court’s decision in the Plessy vs. Ferguson case. Racists, northern and southern, proclaimed that the Negro was subhuman, barbaric, immoral, and innately inferior, physically and intellectually, to whites—totally incapable of functioning as an equal in white civilization.
Welfare can be defined as “systems by which government agencies provide economic assistance, goods, and services to persons who are unable to care for themselves” (Issitt). The United States welfare system is an extremely complex and unique entity that encompasses ideas and concepts from an abundance of different places. Many people believe the current system is an excellent resource for the population, while others believe the current welfare system requires reform and budget cuts to become effective.
This obstacle caused Blacks to not have a voice in the USA’s political decisions. Furthermore, they were left with the worst jobs in town and had the poorest schools because of segregation (The Change in Attitudes.). In the southern states, compared to White schooling, the Blacks received one-third of school funding. The White people dominated the states and local government with their decisions and made sure that the Blacks were weak. They weren’t being treated in hospitals because the doctors refused to do treatment on them.
In 1925 a Deaf African- American couple tried to attend a National Association of the Deaf (NAD) convention. After this, the NAD banned black people from taking part in the Association. This ban was in place for the next 40 years.
For 75 years following reconstruction the United States made little advancement towards racial equality. Many parts of the nation enacted Jim Crowe laws making separation of the races not just a matter of practice but a matter of law. The laws were implemented with the explicit purpose of keeping black American’s from being able to enjoy the rights and freedoms their white counterparts took for granted. Despite the efforts of so many nameless forgotten heroes, the fate of African Americans seemed to be in the hands of a racist society bent on keeping them down; however that all began to change following World War II. Thousands of African American men returned from Europe with a renewed purpose and determined to break the proverbial chains segregation had keep them in since the end of the American Civil War. With a piece of Civil Rights legislation in 1957, the federal government took its first step towards breaking the bonds that had held too many citizens down for far too long. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was a watered down version of the law initially proposed but what has been perceived as a small step towards correcting the mistakes of the past was actually a giant leap forward for a nation still stuck in the muck of racial division. What some historians have dismissed as an insignificant and weak act was perhaps the most important law passed during the nation’s civil rights movement, because it was the first and that cannot be underestimated.
Although many laws were passed that recognized African Americans as equals, the liberties they had been promised were not being upheld. Hoffman, Blum, and Gjerde state that “Union League members in a North Carolina county, upon learning of three or four black men who ‘didn’t mean to vote,’ threatened to ‘whip them’ and ‘made them go.’ In another country, ‘some few colored men who declined voting’ were, in the words of a white conservative, ‘bitterly persecute[ed]” (22). Black codes were also made to control African Americans. Norton et al. states that “the new black codes compelled former slaves to carry passes, observe a curfew, live in housing provided by a landowner, and give up hope of entering many desirable occupations” (476). The discrimination and violence towards African Americans during this era and the laws passed that were not being enforced were very disgraceful. However, Reconstruction was a huge stepping stone for the way our nation is shaped today. It wasn’t pretty but it was the step our nation needed to take. We now live in a country where no matter the race, everyone is considered equal. Reconstruction was a success. Without it, who knows where our nation would be today. African American may have never gained the freedoms they have today without the
Does the name Jim Crow ring a bell? Neither singer nor actor, but actually the name for the Separate but Equal (Jim Crow) Laws of the 1900s. Separate but Equal Laws stated that businesses and public places had to have separate, but equal, facilities for minorities and Caucasian people. Unfortunately, they usually had different levels of maintenance or quality. Lasting hatred from the civil war, and anger towards minorities because they took jobs in the north probably set the foundation for these laws, but it has become difficult to prove. In this essay, I will explain how the Separate but Equal Laws of twentieth century America crippled minorities of that time period forever.
Social security is a benefit program that was established in 1935 by Franklin Roosevelt. The program is a system in which workers pool a portion of their wages. These wages are paid to retired people on a monthly basis. The idea of the program is to protect each other and their families against wage loss when they retire. The ideas of social security benefits were intended to supplement pensions, and personal savings for retired people.
Even though the United States government was already making improvements to the healthcare system, they excluded African Americans from all the progress that they made. Most believed that African Americans brought it upon themselves and that they inherited their sicknesses, and diseases. “Richmond's city officials were also aware that the high death rate of the city's African Americans, usually about twice that of whites, inflated the average for the city as a whole and negatively affected the health of all of Richm ” (Hoffman, 2001, p.177). Officials in Richmond Virginia first started to notice at how bad their death rates were when other states started to comment on it. African Americans made up the majority population in Richmond and even when they brought attention to problems they were excluded from the solutions, and the government was mostly worried about how the state looked overall. Eventually the government did have to step in and help them some. “Only in those programs administered by the Health Department's nurses did Richmond's African Americans receive anything like an equitable share ofthe benefits ofthe city's conversion to modern public health policies and practices, and even practices, and even there, the results were limited ” (Hoffman, 2001, p 188). Africans Americans were helped eventually but at a very limited amount compared to
Throughout the years, social welfare policies have been created, reauthorized, and amended. Social welfare is all social interventions intended to enhance or maintain the social functioning of humans. Many programs have been created through social welfare policies to ensure people are having their needs met. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is one of those programs that were created from the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 that was designed to meet the needs of people.
The Social Security Act was passed by President FDR as one of his programs to fight the Great Depression. The Social Security Act was enacted August 14, 1935 (Social Security Act). The current problem is the fear of what will become of Social Security as the baby boomers generation begins to retire. As millions of baby boomers approach retirement, the program's annual cash surplus will shrink and then disappear. Then, Social Security will not be able to pay full benefits from its payroll and other tax revenues (Social Security Reform Center – Problem). This is causing the U.S. government to think about reform and changes for the ...
Welfare has been a safety net for many Americans, when the alternative for them is going without food and shelter. Over the years, the government has provided income for the unemployed, food assistance for the hungry, and health care for the poor. The federal government in the nineteenth century started to provide minimal benefits for the poor. During the twentieth century the United States federal government established a more substantial welfare system to help Americans when they most needed it. In 1996, welfare reform occurred under President Bill Clinton and it significantly changed the structure of welfare. Social Security has gone through significant change from FDR’s signing of the program into law to President George W. Bush’s proposal of privatized accounts.
Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the original Social Security Act. It comprised of two services: a Social Security retirement benefit that applied only to workers, and a welfare program for the elderly called Old Age Assistance. Social Security benefits were not paid until 1942 to allow for a period of partial forward funding. The retirement benefit service was funded by a two percent tax on the first $3000 of payroll earnings, 1 percent form employers and 1 percent from workers. In 1939, Social Security was amended to include coverage to dependents of workers who died. The payroll tax income was also set aside in a separate trust fund.
Karen Bridget Murray’s article, “Governing ‘Unwed Mothers’ in Toronto at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”, is a valuable reference into the struggles and triumphs of social welfare for unwed mothers. For me the article highlighted how government ideologies influence social welfare, how important the change from religious reformers practices to social work was and finally how appalling it is that the struggles and barriers these women faced are still relevant to single mothers today.
Social Security for the first time provided Americans with unemployment, disability and pensions for old age, which wasn’t there before and thanks to The Great Depression helps out all Americans that need economic relief while taking advantage of Social Security has arguably kept America out of economic chaos (“What is Social Security”?). The Great Depression led us to have a better economic system and changed economic thinking. Laws were passed in order to prevent another depression from happening. Although many years have passed since the Great Depression, things that were seen back then are still being seen today in 2014. High unemployment rates and low income among families forced to need the help of welfare are seen today as they were seen during the time of the Great Depression.