Social Solutions to Poverty: America's Struggle to Build a Just Society

by Myers-Lipton,Scott

• ISBN13: 9781594512117
• ISBN10: 1594512116
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2007-12-08
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The voices of famous and lesser known figures in America's quest to reduce poverty are collected for the first time in this comprehensive historical anthology. The book traces the most important ideas and contributions of citizens, activists, labor leaders, scholars, politicians, and governmental agencies to ensure American citizens the basics of food, housing, employment, education, and health care. The book follows the idea of poverty reduction from Thomas Paine's agrarian justice to Josiah Quincy's proposal for the construction of poorhouses; from the Freedmen's Bureau to Sitting Bull's demand for money and supplies; from Coxey's army of the unemployed to Jane Addams's Hull House; from the Civil Works Administration to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s call for an Economic Bill of Rights; and from William Julius Wilson's universal program of reform to George W. Bush's armies of compassion. You can learn more about the book at http://www.solvingpoverty.com .

Author Biography

Scott Myers-Lipton, an Associate Professor of Sociology at San Jose State University

Table of Contents

Foreword	viii
Preface	xii
1 Native American Contributions to Egalitarianism	1	(30)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	1	(5)
On Cannibals, Michel de Montaigne	6	(4)
Curious Dialogues, Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce Lahontan	10	(7)
Distresses of a Frontier Man, J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur	17	(3)
Agrarian Justice, Thomas Paine	20	(7)
Message from the Western Indians to the Commissioners of the United States, The General Council of Indians at Miami Rapids	27	(2)
Epilogue: Outcomes	29	(2)
2 The Early Republic and Pre—Civil War America: Moral Cures, Poorhouses, and Structural Solutions	31	(30)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	31	(7)
Third Annual Report, Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor	38	(1)
Report of the Committee on the Pauper Laws of This Commonwealth, Quincy Committee	39	(6)
Address of the Association of Working People, Wilson Pierson and George McFarlane	45	(2)
Existing Evils and Their Remedy, Frances Wright	47	(4)
The Rights of Man to Property! Thomas Skidmore	51	(4)
Sleep Not Longer, O Choctaws and Chickasaws, Tecumseh	55	(3)
Epilogue: Outcomes	58	(3)
3 After the Civil War: The Rise of Labor and Scientific Charity	61	(50)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	61	(8)
The Freedmen's Bureau, W.E.B. Du Bois	69	(8)
It Is Not Right for Me to Live in Poverty, Sitting Bull [Tatanka Iyotanka]	77	(6)
The Army of the Discontented, Terrence Powderly	83	(6)
Woman Wants Bread, Not the Ballot! Susan B. Anthony	89	(4)
We Seek Liberty for the Slave, Albert Parsons	93	(9)
Charity Organization and the Buffalo Plan, S. Humphreys Gurteen	102	(5)
Epilogue: Outcomes	107	(4)
4 The (Un)Progressive Era	111	(48)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	111	(11)
Public Activities and Investigations, Jane Addams	122	(8)
Child Welfare Standards: A Test of Democracy, Julia Lathrop	130	(5)
Industrial Education for the Negro, Booker T. Washington	135	(5)
Coxey and His Aims, Henry Vincent	140	(4)
The Social Elements of the Indian Problem, Arthur Parker [Gawaso Wanneh]	144	(2)
The Socialist Party's Appeal, Eugene Debs	146	(5)
Epilogue: Outcomes	151	(8)
5 The Great Depression and the New Deal Era	159	(52)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	159	(8)
The Importance of the Preservation of Self-Help and of the Responsibilities of Individual Generosity as Opposed to Deteriorating Effects of Government Appropriations, Herbert Hoover	167	(2)
Houses of Hospitality, Dorothy Day	169	(4)
Civil Works, Harry Hopkins	173	(7)
Redistribution of Wealth, Huey Long	180	(7)
Immediate EPIC, Upton Sinclair	187	(6)
Social Security, Frances Perkins	193	(9)
Workers' Unemployment, Old-Age, and Social Insurance Bill, Ernest Lundeen	202	(2)
Epilogue: Outcomes	204	(7)
6 The War on Poverty	211	(48)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	211	(10)
Where Do We Go from Here? Martin Luther King, Jr.	221	(6)
The Ballot or the Bullet, Malcolm X	227	(5)
We Give You a Hand Up, Not a Handout, Sargent Shriver	232	(9)
Welfare Is a Women's Issue, Johnnie Tillmon	241	(4)
The Poorest of the Poor and the Weakest of the Weak, Cesar Chavez	245	(3)
The Alcatraz Proclamation to the Great White Father and His People, Indians of All Nations	248	(3)
Epilogue: Outcomes	251	(8)
7 Dismantling the New Deal and War on Poverty: Contemporary Solutions	259	(56)
Prologue: Social Context and Overview of Solutions	259	(13)
Eliminating Hunger in America, Physician Task Force on Hunger in America	272	(5)
Making Homelessness Go Away: Politics and Policy, Douglas A. Timmer, D. Stanley Eitzen, and Kathryn D. Talley	277	(4)
Living Wage, Live Action, Robert Pollin	281	(6)
Labor Leaders and Allies Call for Repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, Tony Mazzocchi, Bruce J. Klipple, Kay McVay, Ralph Nader, and Thomas Geoghegan	287	(1)
We Demand Fair Trade—Not Free Trade, Brian McWilliams	288	(1)
The Hidden Agenda: From Group-Specific to Universal Programs of Reform, William Julius Wilson	289	(4)
America's Debt to Blacks, Randall Robinson	293	(2)
Faith-Based Charities Work Daily Miracles, George W. Bush	295	(5)
Building Assets to Fight Poverty, Michael Sherraden	300	(4)
We Know the Creation Stories of Our People, Carrie Dann	304	(2)
Epilogue: Outcomes	306	(9)
Notes	315	(16)
Credits	331	(4)
Index	335	(10)
About the Author	345