Race and the Limits of Reform in the American Settlement House Movement, 1890-1945

University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-1990 Black neighbors : race and the limits of reform in the American settlement house movement, 1890-1945. Elisabeth Dan Lasch University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Lasch, Elisabeth Dan, "Black neighbors : race and the limits of reform in the American settlement house movement, 1890-1945." (1990). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 1161. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/1161 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. BLACK NEIGHBORS: RACE AND THE LIMITS OF REFORM IN THE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT HOUSE MOVEMENT, 1890-1945 A Dissertation Presented by ELISABETH DAN LASCH Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY September 1990 Department of History (c) Copyright by Elisabeth Dan Lasch All Rights Reserved BLACK NEIGHBORS: RACE AND THE LIMITS OF REFORM IN THE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT HOUSE MOVEMENT, 1890-1945 A Dissertation Presented by ELISABETH DAN LASCH Approved as to style and content by Bruce Laurie, Chair Paula Baker, Member John /Bracey , Member {) J^an" Elshtain, Member Robert Jones, Department Head Department of Hia^bbry To Ray and our new life "If ever two were one, then surely we." —Anne Bradstreet ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project owes its existence to the many wonderful teachers, librarians, scholars, relatives, and friends who introduced me to the library's infinite wonders. It also results from the encouragement of many whose confidence in me far surpassed my own. Among these, my advisor, Bruce Laurie's constant support made him seem like a rock in a storm. His fine seminars and tutorials made me work hard for his respect; his great expectations and intellectual vitality in turn earned mine. Paula Baker also gave unflagging support and assistance in many ways. The examples of Paula, Jean Elshtain, and Constance McGovern, my M. A. thesis advisor, all served as powerful inspiration for a woman pursuing the academic life. Along with John Bracey, these and my other fine teachers contributed many useful suggestions for sources and interpretations that opened new worlds. I am thankful to the University of Massachusetts for providing me with two University fellowships which helped me advance faster than I would have otherwise, and to the history department for nominating me for those awards. The Reuther Henry J. Kaiser Research Travel Grant of the Walter Library of Labor and Urban Affairs at Wayne State University, Detroit, and the Center for the Study of V Philanthropy Research Grant helped defray the costs of travel for research. Many reference librarians and archivists helped make my research more fruitful. Fritz Malval, Hampton University Archivist, and David Klaassen, Head of the Social Welfare History Archives at the University of Minnesota, especially contributed to the success and enjoyment of my research trips to those two rich collections. Making my way through the endurance test of graduate school would not have been as pleasurable without the comradeship and encouragement of many fellow graduate students. Linda Pitelka and Lori Kran read each chapter along the way and provided many useful suggestions. As members of The Group, they came through with support through the difficult early stages of dissertation writing. Linda's subtle reminders of our shared belief in the capacity of scholarly activity to enrich everyday life helped me sustain the pace and enjoy the run. Much thanks go to my new colleagues in the department of history at Syracuse University whose vote of confidence at a crucial point inspired the latter half of the dissertation and provided the first glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel. new and My affectionate gratitude goes to my families, without the old. It is difficult to imagine writing this Commager, and examples of my grandparents, my uncle Steele VI especially my parents, Nell and Christopher Lasch. My father's loving support included a "special fellowship" which is responsible for my finishing in good time. He and my mother helped immensely by devoting themselves to their children's education and by having high hopes for us. I am also grateful for the sisterhood of Kate Lasch Ramdin whose long phone calls and visits during the often lonely days of dissertation writing meant more than she knows. My brother Chris Lasch also backed me, both financially and emotionally. Most of all, the love of Raymond M. Quinn and the infinite ways he helped me every day deserve the deepest acknowledgement. Our new life is my muse and my greatest joy. » vii ABSTRACT BLACK NEIGHBORS: RACE AND THE LIMITS OF REFORM IN THE AMERICAN SETTLEMENT HOUSE MOVEMENT, 1890-1945 SEPTEMBER 199 0 ELISABETH DAN LASCH, B.A. , UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA M.A., UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS Directed by: Professor Bruce Laurie Settlement workers sought to reform American society in order to make it truer to its democratic ideals. They erected the seedling of modern social work, the social settlement, which uniquely combined social services and reform. Attentive to the daily concerns of their neighbors, settlement workers aimed at nothing short of total social transformation based on the revitalization of local communities. However, when black migrants from the rural South began to replace European immigrants in settlement neighborhoods during and after World War I, settlements responded by closing down completely, following their white neighbors out of the slums, conducting segregated or an activities, or only rarely, opening a separate branch independent black branch. viii This dissertation seeks to explain the failure of the mainstream movement to redirect its efforts toward the needs of its new black neighbors. It analyzes many settlement leaders' belief in the amorality of black individuals and the deficiency of their culture. Settlement workers attempted to put into practice what they considered a cosmopolitan world view, yet its secular, urban, and Northern biases further inhibited their understanding of black culture and religion. Their "liberalism" ironically helped stall the translation of "the settlement idea" from immigrants to blacks. While the mainstream settlement movement failed to welcome blacks, other reformers did conduct settlement work in both urban and rural black communities in the North and South. School settlements, the YWCA, and independent black settlements all embodied the settlement's marriage of social services and community revitalization. Some of this work influenced the broader movement toward civil rights and State responsibility for social welfare. Innocuous doctrines like industrial education and moralist womanhood veiled serious commitments to social change. This study describes a reform movement plagued and directed by racial tension. It provides evidence of the great impact of race on the history of the settlement movement from the Progressive Era to the 1940s, and reveals issues such as the importance of collective confrontation of ix racism and separatism in all efforts to bring about change in a pluralistic society. X : TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABSTRACT CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 1. "THEY HAVE NOT BEEN PERMITTED TO BE THEMSELVES": MAINSTREAM SETTLEMENT LEADERS' VIEWS OF BLACKS 14 2. "A SOCIAL CHURCH" BUT NOT A MISSION: THE SOCIAL GOSPEL, ETHICAL RELIGION AND SETTLEMENT WORK 59 3 . COMMUNITY CENTERS FOR "TOTAL EDUCATION" WOMEN AND THE SCHOOL SETTLEMENT IN THE NEW SOUTH 124 4. FROM "MOTHER POWER" TO CIVIL RIGHTS: BLACK SETTLEMENTS, THE YWCA, AND INTERRACIAL COOPERATION 2 04 5. CONCLUSION: THE IMPACT OF RACE ON AMERICAN REFORM: THE PROMISE AND TRAGEDY OF THE SETTLEMENT MOVEMENT 278 BIBLIOGRAPHY 317 xi INTRODUCTION In 1911, prominent Progressive Era reformer Jane Addams remarked that, everywhere in America, "a strong race antagonism is asserting itself."^ Indeed, the migration of blacks from the rural South to the cities of the Northeast and Midwest that crested during and after World War I and again during World War II triggered racial tensions and cemented residential segregation. The early twentieth century witnessed what historian I. A. Newby called "the flowering of racist thought," a period of virulent racism throughout the nation. The enduring symbol of twentieth- century race relations is the black ghetto, which, soon after conception, deteriorated into an impoverished and permanent slum.^ The settlement house movement grew out of an awareness of the severe conditions facing newcomers to the city. While it attempted to address the needs of white immigrants, it largely ignored the parallel situation of African-Americans when they began to replace whites in settlement neighborhoods. This study seeks to explain the tragic failure of the settlement house to redirect its energies toward its black neighbors. The settlement house, a community center staffed by the volunteers, was a leading philanthropic institution in in United States, modeled after the example of Toynbee Hall European London. It sought to help the poor, usually Settlement immigrants, adjust

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