Social Welfare History in the Age of Diversity

This policy perspective discusses three important social welfare programs—Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare, and Temporary Aid to Needy Families—and offers an explanation of how they have expanded over time.

THE COLOURED WOMEN’S CLUB OF MONTREAL, 1902-1940

To date, there is limited literature documenting contributions of people of African descent to Canadian social welfare history. Based on both secondary and archival sources, we critically explore from anti-Black racism and African-Canadian feminist per\spectives, the contributions of the Coloured Women’s Club of Montreal (CWCM) from 1902-1940 to the social well-being of Montreal’s Black community. The CWCM played a major role as one of the leading supports for members who encountered harsh challenges in a society where racism prevailed and opportunities for men and women were severely restricted. Club members organized several events that enabled community members to survive in an environment that was hostile to people of African descent, therefore becoming a “pillar of strength” that fostered a stronger sense of community among Blacks living in Montreal. We contend that through their contributions during this time period, these African-Canadian women emerged as key players in the community and secondly, as early social welfare practitioners. It is imperative for social workers to acknowledge the contributions of the women who were involved in the CWCM as a means of interrupting the historical narratives shaping our profession that have predominantly been told from the perspectives of a hegemonic, white culture.

Michael Katz's Contribution to Social and Social Welfare History

Michael Katz began work on social welfare during the late 1970s with a project entitled “The Casualties of Industrialization.” That project led to a series of essays, Poverty and Policy in American History (Katz 1983), and a few years later to In the Shadow of the Poorhouse (Katz 1986). His reading in twentieth-century literature for Shadow—and the ideological and policy nostrums of the Reagan administration—allowed Katz to pivot to two books that frame contemporary welfare debates in their historical context—The Undeserving Poor in 1989 and The Price of Citizenship in 2001, as well as a set of essays Improving Poor People (Katz 1995) that he published between the two.