Illinois social workers have always punched above their weight in commitment, ideas, and ideals for a better society.
Chicago is forever known as the second city of America, but when it comes to the field of social work, there’s a pretty good argument that Illinois actually leads the nation.
That’s no accident of geography or circumstance. It’s a status that comes like all things come to social work: through the hard work and dedication of individuals who believe they can make a difference in society and the lives of others.
Here are six of those individuals who have given their all and made Illinois and the world a better place with their efforts.
1. Jane Addams
It’s not really possible to have a list of any kind dealing with either social work or the state of Illinois that doesn’t have Jane Addams on it. The Mother of Social Work co-founded the immortal Hull House neighborhood settlement house on the Near West Side in 1889, bringing a holistic approach to helping immigrants and the destitute. Under her guidance, Hull House took on all kinds of social ills through all sorts of innovative services… education for adults and children, midwife services, counseling, a public kitchen and bath house, library, employment bureau, and even an art gallery.
But Addams didn’t confine herself to local problems. In a career that was decades ahead of its time, she understood that even local social ills could be tied to larger national and even international issues. She became active in the Woman’s Peace Party and presided over the International Congress of Women in Europe. She was a tireless fundraiser for Hull House and a lobbyist for social reforms like separate juvenile courts, an eight hours work day, worker’s compensation, and factory safety.
Addams became the first American woman to be awarded the Nobel prize for Peace in 1931. Partly through her legacy, Illinois social workers are still well known for their work with immigrant communities today.
2. Ellen Gates Starr
Sometimes lost in Jane’s shadow is her partner and cofounder in Hull House, Ellen Gates Starr.
Part of the same European trip that Addams took during which they were inspired by the English Settlement Movement, Starr came from solid roots in the reform and assistance movement: her father, Caleb Starr, was an abolitionist and advocate for women’s rights. She taught in progressive schools and ultimately became responsible for the unique focus at Hull House on arts, literature, and culture as a part of the program.
Along those lines, Starr also founded the Chicago Public School Art Society and Chicago Society of Arts and Crafts.
But her social work included grittier stuff than painting and books. She was a member of the Women’s Trade Union League and organized strikes in the garment and restaurant industry to support women laborers… activities that landed her in jail.
3. Ida B. Wells
Born into slavery, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett found herself migrating north along with many other freed Blacks in the wake of the Civil War.
Wells made intersectional social work a thing before there was a word for it. Active both in women’s suffrage and civil rights, her drive came from an early career working in journalism. Witnessing some of the worst examples of lynching and abuse and documenting them plainly and clearly for a national audience put her life at risk… but never slowed her down.
In Chicago, she became involved in national politics as well as local matters. She teamed up with Addams to stop a proposal to segregate Chicago’s public schools. But she also became one of the founders of the NAACP, and traveled twice to Britain to give presentations designed to put international pressure on the racist practices within the United States.
Both the country as a whole and various other states she passed through have a strong claim on Ida’s impressive activism, but Chicago was where she made her home and did some of her most lasting work.
4. Barack Obama
Jane Addams isn’t the only one from Illinois to end up on the Nobel Peace Prize committee’s radar. In 2009, former Chicago resident and new president Barack Obama also won the award.
Barrack may not have been a licensed social worker, but as a community organizer in Chicago, he accomplished a lot of important social work tasks: creating job training programs, college prep tutoring and after-school programs for kids, and helping to put together a tenant’s rights organization in the notorious Altgeld Gardens Chicago Housing Authority project. The South Side got a lot out of Obama before he hit the state and then national political scene.
Of course, there’s plenty of progress to be made for social services on the political front, and Obama made the most of his opportunity. The crown jewel of his presidency has become one of the most important social welfare programs in the country. Tagged with his name as a political pejorative at the time, it instead came to represent a legacy of healthcare coverage for millions of Americans: Obamacare helped more than 35 million people gain health care coverage, and by 2022 had reduced the rate of uninsured down to only 8 percent nationally… record numbers representing innumerable lives saved.
5. Edith Abbott
It’s hard to get away from Hull House as an influence in Illinois social work. For the 120-plus-years that Hull House has had its doors open, you can trace a path from many of the social workers that spent their careers here straight back to the University of Chicago.
Edith Abbott is one of the bright sparks on that trajectory.
Abbott got a fellowship to UC and earned a doctorate in political economy—not exactly traditional stuff of social work. Yet in post-doctoral studies in London, she encountered social reformers Sidney and Beatrice Webb, who were pioneering new approaches to eliminating poverty. When she returned to Chicago, she took up residence in Hull House.
Her work there fueled academic studies that offered social workers ammunition for reforms. She was able to develop data and conclusions on housing conditions, truancy, and juvenile crime. Her efforts led to her appointment as Dean of the UC Graduate School of Social Service Administration. It was the first graduate-level program in social work at a major research university in the country. Now known as the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, it’s also a place where many social workers earn their Master of Social Work degrees.
6. Frances Perkins
The alums from Hull House weren’t just big players in the Illinois social work scene; some of them went on to positions of national importance and made lasting changes in how social work and the social safety net work throughout the country.
Frances Perkins is one of them.
Originally from Boston, Perkins ended up teaching in an all-girls school in Illinois (which was later to evolve into the prestigious Lake Forest Academy). It was while working there that she began volunteering at Hull House, getting exposure to some of the grittiest social work in the country in the early 1900s.
That formative experience took her back to the East Coast and the leadership of the National Consumer’s Union in New York. While there, she witnessed the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. The experience led her to focus on fire safety, which drew her into government work with relevant agencies.
She caught the eye of New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt, who appointed her as the state industrial commissioner in 1929. And when Roosevelt went to Washington, he was impressed enough with her work to nominate her as the first female Secretary of Labor. She served in the position for 12 years, a record. And while doing so, she played a critical role in shaping the New Deal: the most transformative piece of social services legislation in American history.
Of course, when you get right down to it, every Illinois social worker is a hero. You don’t have to do work on the same scale as these six to be a miracle worker. But somewhere out there even today is someone figuring out how to become number seven on this list.