Better Late Than Never

Abstract

Abstract The history of social work has major implications for the present day field. The recognized founders of social work, Mary Richmond and Jane Addams, are two White women who had good intentions to address issues of poverty, crime, and disabilities; however, their good intentions were flawed, and this chapter identifies them as oppositional legs of social work. The chapter seeks to rectify social work’s role in the perpetuation of oppression by centering historical Black feminist thinkers and social workers of the Progressive Era as the blueprint of social work. This chapter covers four topics: the dominant historical narrative of White female social workers, historical Black women social workers, the transformative power of Black feminist thought, and the pedagogical implications of including Black feminist thought and Black female social work pioneers in social work education.