Inspirational thoughts from social work pioneers

From its very beginnings, social work has been inextricably linked with migration. The extent to which interventions with migrants were implemented in the early 20th century is highlighted throughout the pages of Mary Richmond's Social Diagnosis (1917) and Jane Addams’ Twenty years at Hull House (1910) as one of the main activities of social work pioneers. The awareness of the working conditions of migrants and how they suffered exploitation, oppression and racism outraged social work pioneers, and motivated them to challenge and condemn the injustice behind the ideology that supported the status quo. However, they soon realised that their condemnation would not be effective unless it was supported by reliable data.

The chapter titled Pioneer labor legislation in Illinois from the book Twenty years at Hull House (Addams 1910, 2010: 132) clearly illustrates this idea and provides important pointers on how to lobby for political change.

First pointer: awareness, outrage and ethical commitment are key elements for change, but they are not enough

The settlement house in Chicago, Hull House, was deliberately set up in an immigrant quarter. The decision was made with the aim of establishing a good relationship with neighbours so that Hull House members could empathise with them and understand their context at the very grassroots level.

Awareness can only be achieved by being in touch with reality and, in this case, paved the way to outrage and ethical commitment, which necessarily (and previously) requires the willingness of the practitioner to place herself out of her comfort zone to enable her to challenge uncontested narratives.