Social Solutions to Poverty

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, labour 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 programme of reform to George W. Bush's armies of compassion. 1. Native American Contributions to Egalitarianism 2. The Early Republic and Antebellum America: Moral Cures, Poorhouses, and Structural Solutions 3. After the Civil War: The Rise of Labor and Scientific Charity 4. The (Un) Progressive Era; The Great Depression and the New Deal Era 5. The War on Poverty 6. The Dismantling of the Great Society and New Deal: Contemporary Solutions