Iris Carlton-LaNey

“Sitting With the Sick”: African American Women's Philanthropy

This article traces the historical development of informal and, to a lesser extent, formal health caregiving among African Americanwomen from slavery to the Great Depression. “Sitting with the sick,” ametaphor for myriad services, including preparing meals for, housekeeping for, feeding, bathing, and generally visiting with people who are mentally or physically ill, injured, or grieving, has been an important aspect of social support among African American women for centuries. Implications are presented for practice and ways to enhance the health caregiving role using the historical record as a guide.

African American Reformers’ Mission: Caring for Our Girls and Women

This article focuses on the mechanisms that African American women used during the Progressive Era to meet the needs of young African American women and girls. It identifies some of the early reform women and describes the girls and women who were the recipients of their beneficence. Attention is also given to specific strategies that were implemented by service organizations and groups, such as women’s clubs, sororities, schools, and settlement houses.

Early African American social welfare pioneer women: Working to empower the race and the community

Abstract This article uses selective aspects of the careers of Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, Lugenia Burns Hope, Elizabeth Ross Haynes and Janie Porter Barrett to provide a critical overview of the ways that African American women addressed the needs of their communities through social welfare services during the early part of the twentieth century. Furthermore, the article also shows how individual and collective forms of empowerment helped to build private social institutions to address the communitys needs.

Younger African American Adults’ Use of Religious Songs to Manage Stressful Life Events

The aim of this study was to explore the use of religious songs in response to stressful life events among young African American adults. Fifty-five young African American adults aged 18–49 participated in a qualitative study involving criterion sampling and open-ended interviews. Data analysis included content analysis and descriptive statistics. Stressful life events were related to work or school; caregiving and death of a family member; and relationships. Religious songs represented five categories: Instructive, Communication with God, Thanksgiving and Praise, Memory of Forefathers, and Life after Death. The tradition of using religious songs in response to stressful life events continues among these young adults. Incorporating religious songs into health-promoting interventions might enhance their cultural relevance to this population.

The significance of African-centered social work for social work practice

Abstract In order to respond to concomitant factors that impact members of the extensive African Diasporic community, African-centered theory/Afrocentricity warrants elevation in the social work literature and scientific inquiry. In preparing for this special journal issue, the editors recognized the dearth of scholarship advancing this critical perspective in social work. This special issue provides information on both philosophical and conceptual thinking about African-centered social work to respond to the current challenges facing these communities. The only academic social work entity entirely devoted to furthering African-centered pedagogy is the Academy for African-centered Social Work of the National Association of Black Social Workers. A primary goal of the Academy is to expand the influence and institutionalization of African-centered social work practice, education, and research. This special issue launches another intercommunicative and inter-educational medium of approaches of this theory to the broader social work community. This introduction provides an overview of African-centered social work, discusses its empirical base, and projects the importance of further examination in the academic literature and practice community.

Black perspectives and social work practice

ABSTRACT Social work and social welfare have historically operated from a Black perspective in understanding problems, identifying structural inequities, and designing social services for the Black community. Obviously there is no singular Black perspective, but a diversity of models promulgated by diverse players for meeting the community’s needs. Often marginalized, the practice models discussed herein provide divergent approaches and illustrate the critical roles that the Black perspective played in shaping the evolution of the social work profession.

The Importance of Place in the Life and Career of a Social Work Pioneer Insights From Interviews With Hortense King McClinton

This column explores the importance of place in the life of social work pioneer Hortense McClinton. McClintons story is underscored by the centrality of place, especially her all-black hometown. McClinton’s insights were garnered through interviews and unprecedented access to McClinton’s personal archives. McClinton’s words explicate the role place plays in shaping values, character, and behavior. Her story exemplifies strength and endurance during times when women and African Americans had staunchly circumscribed roles and limited access to social involvement and resources. This article illustrates the intersection of multiple factors that shaped her life, her career, and her contribution to social work.

Annie Mae Kenion (1912–2009) Teaching and Community Building in the Jim Crow South

This article examines the career of Annie Mae Kenion who worked as a Jeanes teacher and supervisor of African American schools for more than 40 years. Strict racial segregation and disenfranchisement was the order of the day throughout most of her career, forcing her to negotiate the system gingerly in order to serve children. Kenion’s professional life illustrates an unyielding love of learning and the stark connection between education and the African American struggle against oppression.