Nebraska
Grace Abbott
(1878-1939)
Nebraska
Grace Abbott
(1878-1939)
Grace Abbot was born in Grand Island, Nebraska on November 17, 1878. Her father participated in state politics while her mother supported the Undergound Railroad and Women’s suffrage movements. Grace was strongly influenced by both of her parents from the time she was very young. She attended the University of Nebraska and taught high school in Grand Island before going to the University of Chicago to get her masters degree. Soon after moving to Chicago, Grace became an avid supporter of immigrants’ rights and helped establish the Immigrants’ Protective League (IPL). She later became a professor at the University of Chicago and wrote many articles and a book on the mistreatment of immigrants.
In 1917, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Grace as director of the child-labor division of the United States Children Bureau. She began to work on the first law restricting child labor, but unfortunately, the law was not passed. She continued to fight for children’s rights, however, and her efforts paved the way for the regulation of labor of children under the age of 16, which was passed in 1938. She served on many committees throughout her life in efforts to gain the rights of others, including the Illinois State Immigrants Commission, the Advisory Committee on Traffic in Women and Children (established by the League of Nations), helped develop a program for states to aid in child and maternity health care, and helped Franklin Roosevelt write the Social Security Act, which aided retired and unemployed people.
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