Child Care In Black And White: Working Parents And The History Of Orphanages (working Class In American History)

This innovative study examines the development of institutional child care from 1878 to 1929, based on a comparison of two “sister” orphanages in Pittsburgh: the all-white United Presbyterian Orphan's Home and the all-black Home for Colored Children. Drawing on quantitative analysis of the records of more than 1,500 children living at the two orphanages, as well as census data, city logs, and contemporary social science surveys, this study raises new questions about the role of child care in constructing and perpetrating social inequality in the United States.The book explores how working families shaped institutional child care. The term “child care” is used to mean assistance with the daily labor of caring for children; and specifically in the case of orphanages, parents' tactic of placing their children temporarily in institutions with the intention of retrieving them after a relatively short time. The book argues that the development of institutional child care was premised upon and rife with gender, race, and class inequities—these persistent ideologies had consequences for the evolution of social welfare and modern child care. This innovative study examines the development of institutional childcare from 1878 to 1929, based on a comparison of two "sister" orphanages in Pittsburgh: the all-white United Presbyterian Orphan's Home and the all-black Home for Colored Children. Drawing on quantitative analysis of the records of more than 1,500 children living at the two orphanages, as well as census data, city logs, and contemporary social science surveys, this study raises new questions about the role of childcare in constructing and perpetrating social inequality in the United States. | Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Constructing Orphans Chapter 1. Institutionalizing Orphans: The Founding and Managing Women Chapter 2. Raising Orphans: The Child Care Dilemma of Families in Crisis Chapter 3. Boarding Orphans: Working Parents' Use of Orphanages as Child Care Chapter 4. Fathering Orphans: Gender and Institutional Child Care Chapter 5. Reforming Orphans: Progressive Reformers and Staff in the Development of Child Care Organ Chapter 6. Segregating Orphans: The Home for Colored Children Conclusion: Contesting Orphans Appendix A: Data Sets and Statistical Methodology Appendix B: Biographical Comparison of HCC and UPOH Founding Managers Appendix C: Birthplace of HCC Parents Notes Bibliography Credits Index Back Cover | Herbert G. Gutman Prize, Labor and Working-Class History Association, 2010. Lerner-Scott Prize in Women's History, Organization of American Historians, 2010. John Heinz Award, National Academy of Social Insurance, 2010. — Labor and Working-Class History Association Herbert G. Gutman Prize, Labor and Working-Class History Association, 2010. Lerner-Scott Prize in Women's History, Organization of American Historians, 2010. John Heinz Award, National Academy of Social Insurance, 2010. — Organization of American Historians Herbert G. Gutman Prize, Labor and Working-Class History Association, 2010. Lerner-Scott Prize in Women's History, Organization of American Historians, 2010. John Heinz Award, National Academy of Social Insurance, 2010. — National Academy of Social Insurance | Jessie B. Ramey is an ACLS New Faculty Fellow in Women's Studies and History at the University of Pittsburgh. This innovative study examines the development of institutional child care from 1878 to 1929, based on a comparison of two "sister" orphanages in Pittsburgh: the all-white United Presbyterian Orphan's Home and the all-black Home for Colored Children. Focusing on the agency of poor families who used these institutions in times of family crisis to meet their child care needs, Jessie B. Ramey explores the cooperation and conflict among working parents, children, orphanage managers, progressive reformers, staff members, and the broader community. Drawing on quantitative analysis of the records of more than 1,500 children living at the two orphanages, as well as census data, city logs, and contemporary social science surveys, this study investigates the intertwined hierarchies of gender, race, and class at the foundation of orphanage care. Raising new questions about the role of child care in constructing and perpetrating social inequality in the United States, Child Care in Black and White: Working Parents and the History of Orphanages provides insight into the lives of working-class families struggling to balance their wage labor and parenting responsibilities in a modernizing industrial economy.

 

This innovative study examines the development of institutional childcare from 1878 to 1929, based on a comparison of two "sister" orphanages in Pittsburgh: the all-white United Presbyterian Orphan's Home and the all-black Home for Colored Children. Drawing on quantitative analysis of the records of more than 1,500 children living at the two orphanages, as well as census data, city logs, and contemporary social science surveys, this study raises new questions about the role of childcare in constructing and perpetrating social inequality in the United States.

Institutionalizing orphans : the founding and managing women Raising orphans : the child care dilemma of families in crisis Boarding orphans : working parents' use of orphanages as child care Fathering orphans : gender and institutional child care Reforming orphans : progressive reformers and staff in the development of child care organizations Segregating orphans : the home for colored children Conclusion : contesting orphans.