Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Human Services

8/10/2019 Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Human Services

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Racial Equity and Diversity Section

Webinar

Impact of the Civil Rights

Movement on Human ServicesMay 12, 2014

Discussion Leader:Samuel Chambers, Jr., MPA

Sr. Vice President for Disaster Response Operations


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History 101

Civil Rights/Human Rights and Dignity are tied togetherin history and culture. From the beginning, challenges have existed in terms of both civil

and human rights

Many have struggled to define groups as superior and inferior,resulting in differential systems of treatment, claims to equality, and

suffrage. Some conflicts have led to

Legal challenges

Denial of privilege and opportunity

Warfare

Death


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Human services programs in America have alsoexperienced highs and lows through time. Definitions of who is most entitled and who consumes more have

changed and been challenged over time.

For whom were the first national human services programscreated?

Which ethnic groups are most represented on welfare rolls? Isthere an explanation?

Does access to education and employment play a role?

Does the Church, politics, and the media matter?


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Evolution of national human

services programs

The history of public welfare in the United States hasbeen one of continuing change and growth. Prior to the1900s local governments shared with private charitable

organizations major responsibility for public assistance,or as it was often termed public relief. As the nations

economy became more industrial and the populationmore concentrated in urban areas, the need for publicrelief grew beyond the means, and sometimes thewillingness of local public and private authorities toprovide needed assistance

The Social Welfare History Project

Thus, the stage is set for understanding some of the challenges and

struggles we have experienced.


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Since 1932

1935Passage of the Social Security Act

1950Aid to the Disabled was added to the SSA

1965Title XIX (MA) was added to the SSA

- Food Stamp Program was created

1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act(Welfare Reform) was signed into law.


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Civil Rights progress

Slow and unending Civil Rights Act of 1875

CRA of 1875 later struck down in 1883

1896Plessy v Ferguson

1954Brown v Board of Education

1955-56Montgomery bus boycotts

1964Civil Rights Act

Note, some of these events occurred at the same timethat social welfare programs gained attention andexpanded.


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Intersection

1964/65 was a great time!

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Great Society Programs under President Lyndon B.Johnson

This point in history saw the first real intersectionbetween these two processes.

What has been our experience since then???


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Our collective and contorted

experience

Human Services programs starting in 1935 were notcreated for minorities. After WWII, primary focus was on widows and orphans

SSA of 1935, and its provision of assistance to the blind and aged,did nothing to provide equality of services.

Not until the mid-1960s when the National Welfare Rights

Organization was formed did minorities rights become a focal pointof access to welfare benefits.

Why was this so? Why did the situation change in themid-1960s when African American women took on sucha prominent role in welfare rights advocacy?


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The answer is.

The presence of large numbers of minorities asbeneficiaries of welfare programs resulted from Migration of large numbers of minorities to the north, east and

western parts of the country, in search of Jobs

Better housing

Better education

Respect and equal opportunity

The welfare rights advocacy phenomenon resulted fromthe rise of unions in the industrialized cities.

At the same time, the passage of the Civil Rights Actempowered African American women, who headed

many of the households receiving welfare benefits toassume a leadership role.


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Welfare today

Welfare stereotypes prevail across the country eventoday.

Much of this is spawned by the media, by politicians,and by the ill-informed populace acting on imagespassed down through the generations.

But, what does the data say?


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Welfare demographics

Welfare statistics (1/1/2014) # of Americans on welfare 12,800,000

# of Americans on Food Stamps 46,700,000

# of Americans on unemployment compensation 5,600,000

Welfare demographics

% of recipients who are white 38.8% % of recipients who are black 39.8%

% of Americans who are Hispanic 15.7%

% of recipients who are Asian 2.4%

% of recipients who are Other 3.3%

Other statistics

# of States where welfare pays more than a $8/hr job 39 # of States where welfare pays more than a $12/hr job 6

# of States where welfare pays more than the average

salary of a U.S. teacher 8

(Source: HHS/Dept. of Commerce, CATO Institute)


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Selected poverty data

People in poverty (20112012) White 12.8% 12.7%

White, not Hispanic 9.8% 9.7%

Black 27.6% 27.2%

Asian 12.3% 11.7%

Hispanic 25.3% 25.6%(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey)

Poverty and hunger 14.5% of U.S. Households struggle to put enough food on the table

more than 48 million Americans, including 15.9 million childrenlive in these households.

More than one in five children is at risk of hunger. Among African

American and Latinos, nearly one in three children is at risk ofhunger.(Source: Hunger and Poverty Facts, Bread for the World)


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Effect of poverty and race

It is inescapable that there is a relationship betweenpoverty and racebetween the efforts in this country toachieve racial equity and economic security.

Poverty, while not directly caused by racial inequality, isaggravated by it, resulting in disproportionate numbers

of minorities suffering the effects of poverty. The dataestablishes that fact clearly.

Reversing the effects of poverty, and reducing thenumbers of people in poverty, requires that we continueto increase our efforts to assure racial equity for allAmericans, regardless of race.

Access to employment, housing, health care, nutrition,and justice must be assured to all. This will reducereliance on public support and allow for personalresponsibility on levels not previously experienced.


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Conclusion

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that allmen are created equal, that they are endowed,by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights,that among these are Life, Liberty, and thepursuit of Happiness.

Thomas Jefferson

Declaration of Independence

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is

neither slave nor free, there is no male andfemale, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28

Documents

Impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Human Services