Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston

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BRECKINRIDGE, Sophonisba Preston

Born 1 April 1866, Lexington, Kentucky; died 30 July 1948, Chicago, Illinois

Daughter of William Campbell Preston and Issa DeshaBreckinridge

Born of a respected, intellectual family, Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge graduated from Wellesley College in 1888 but experienced a period of uncertainty characteristic of educated women at this time, who were seen as anomalies with few career opportunities available to them. Breckinridge taught high school in Washington, D.C. until 1894, when she returned to her father's home and law office. By 1895, being the first woman to successfully pass Kentucky's bar exams, Breckinridge decided to return to school because she could not obtain legal clients; thus began a lifelong career at the University of Chicago. In 1901 Breckinridge earned a Ph.D. in political science and a J.D. in 1904. Simultaneously she worked as an assistant dean of women, and as a faculty member, first in the department of Household Administration, and later in the Social Services Administration.

In 1907 Breckinridge moved into Hull House, the social settlement, together with a graduate-school friend, Edith Abbott, and lived there intermittently until 1920. Casting off her previous academically safe style of research, Breckinridge plunged into socially involved observations and analyses. At age forty-one, she turned her life and career fully to the study of social welfare and change.

Women's rights soon emerged as a central concern in her writing and everyday life. She became vice president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1911, and as a lawyer she helped draft bills regulating women's wages and hours of employment. She was also an active member of the National Trade Women's League, the Women's League, the Women's City Club of Chicago, the American Association of University Women, and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

Breckinridge was a major force, along with Edith Abbott, in the founding of the Graduate School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Training large numbers of students (by 1935, 1300 students had registered in the program), she helped shape the profession of social work through rigorous course work, the introduction of the case history method, and her concern with a holistic, political approach to the solution of social problems. In 1927 Breckinridge and Abbott helped found the distinguished professional journal Social Service Review, setting a high standard for scholarly studies of social problems and the profession of social work.

Evidence of Breckinridge's and Abbott's close friendship and professional support abounds. They were not only members of the same faculty, coadministrators, and coresidents of Hull House for 13 years, but also coauthors and coeditors. In a world hostile to intelligent, assertive women, they established a strong personal network as unique then as it is today. The Modern Household (1912), coauthored by Breckinridge and Marion Talbot, Breckinridge's colleague and supervisor at the University of Chicago, is an introductory text intended for housewives and college students to help them adapt to social changes affecting the home in modern society. The book covers a variety of topics ranging from the mundane care of the house to ethical concerns in consumerism and the community.

Abbott and Breckinridge collaborated in writing Truancy and Non-attendance in the Chicago Schools: A Study of the Social Aspects of the Compulsory Education and Child Labor Legislation of Illinois (1917). Highly committed to the need for education until age sixteen, the authors examine the many factors leading to school absence, such as poverty, mental and physical defects, lack of knowledge of the immigrant parents and child, and delinquency. Documenting the existence and extent of missed school days and the historical development of compulsory education, remedies are suggested. Read today, the authors' arguments are still timely and the controversy still lively. The continual conflict between young people who do not wish to be educated, and the state which demands they attend educational institutions, is as problematical today as it was 60 years ago.

New Homes for Old (1921) is a fascinating account of difficulties encountered by immigrant women in American society. Chapters on altered family relationships, housecleaning, saving and spending money, and child care provide information on the dramatic changes in everyday life facing the foreign-born housewife. Organizations established to help mitigate the stress created by these situations are discussed, presenting a historical view of social services in this area. Both Breckinridge and Abbott, as founders in social work education, generated a remarkable series of six books (each authoring three), containing selected documents and case records on a variety of social problems. These texts helped establish the case work method of study and reporting in social work and provided a vivid account of individual lives as they were affected by social change, legislation, and public agencies.

Public Welfare Administration in the United States (1927), Breckinridge's first contribution to this series, notes early (1601) origins of legislation and institutions concerning the destitute and mentally ill. Subsequent changes and the resulting hodge-podge of control and disorder, a legacy to today's welfare state, are noted in legal precedents and in statements made by leading authorities of the day in agency management and administration. In the revised edition (1938), the expanding but still chaotic role of the federal government is noted.

Another volume in the series, Family Welfare Work (1924), presents problems or strains on the "modern" family: physical and mental illnesses; widowhood; the deserted family; unmarried mothers; industrial injuries; care of family members, especially the very young or old. Legislation and the difficulty of enforcing it for each of the above family problems is presented in document, case history form.

Breckinridge's Marriage and the Civic Rights of Women (1932) discusses the relationship between marital status and citizenship. A key legislation reviewed is the Cable Act of 1922: for the first time American women could retain their citizenship when marrying an alien. This book is an astute combination of law, social relations, and women's rights. The terseness and clarity of the text, the comprehensive work done by women internationally, the case studies of foreign-born women in America, make this an early classic on the legal status of women and the social barriers they encountered in obtaining citizenship rights.

Any student and scholar of women's role in society from 1890 to 1933 will find Women in the Twentieth Century: A Study of Their Political, Social and Economic Activities (1933) a must on their reading lists. The growth of women's participation in life outside the home emerged from women's clubs, increased access to institutions for higher education, the suffrage movement, and concern with the political arena. Data is given on income and the distribution of women in various occupations, with a number of tables providing an invaluable baseline for assessing changes or stability in income, and distribution in occupations over time. Since this historical period is remarkable for its relatively high proportion of women professionals, the chapters discussing professional and near-professional women, women's earnings, and women in business offer factual information that gives a uniquely comparative, historical base to issues still vital to women today. Detailed accounts of early women politicians and women's voting behavior are also provided. This book in many ways is a handbook of women's status from 1890 to 1933.

The Tenements of Chicago, 1908-1935 (1936) is a massive study of housing conditions and poverty in Chicago. The book, a result of 25 years of research, is based on house-to-house canvassing in 151 city blocks, and visits to 18,225 apartments. As a result, Edith Abbott, the primary author, and Breckinridge, the secondary author, actually act as editors for a large number of studies done by their students over the years. The problems noted: lack of enforcement of housing regulations, too few city inspectors, high rents for substandard housing, and large numbers of unemployed people suffering from social stress such as broken families, ill health, and lack of education, are as relevant today as they were back then. The documentation of these problems provides an excellent historical base for understanding these same problems today.

Breckinridge's career is remarkable for its productivity, diversity, and quality. As a woman completely dedicated to social equality, her life was deeply enmeshed with those of the other women who were associated with Hull House: Jane Addams, Julia Lathrop, and Grace and Edith Abbott. Reading and evaluating Breckinridge's writings, one must consider them products of her contacts with this group, with other intellectuals such as Marion Talbot, and with her students. At the same time, Breckinridge's influence on others was overwhelming, as documented by her bibliography cards that occupy nearly an inch in the library card catalog at the University of Chicago. Her contributions to education and social reform attest to her success at being a dedicated and intelligent scholar and educator.

Other Works:

Administration of Justice in Kentucky (1901). Legal Tender (1903). The Child in the City (1912). The Delinquent Child and the Home (with E. Abbott, 1912). Madeline McDowell Breckinridge (1921). Social Work and the Courts (1934). The Illinois Poor Law and Its Administration (1939).