Abstract
What does Prostitution and Social Work have in common, Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge. Sophonisba Breckinridge is one of the pioneers of what we today have come to know as social work.
Born in 1866 in Lexington, Kentucky to a very distinguished family, Sophonisba Breckinridge would go on to have many noteworthy firsts for a woman of her time (Coghlan, 2005). With a very supportive father, she was one of the first women to attend college at A and M College in Lexington, later renamed the University of Kentucky (Coghlan, 2005). Unhappy with her experience there she left. She went on to enroll at Wellesley, which at the time was one of the only colleges for women. She earned her degree in 1888. After realizing that she would be limited to only teaching positions, she moved to be with her family in Washington, DC where her father served his role in Congress. She eventually accepted a faculty teaching position during a time she described as confused. Like most young professionals now-a-days, Breckinridge was yearning for more and felt that her current position was not her calling. She left after becoming really ill. In correspondence written to her colleagues, she seemed disgruntled and describes her days spent keeping house and teaching her sister as meager and that she was doing nothing. Her dream was to become a lawyer, and she was doing nothing close to that. Her father was a lawyer and had a successful practice and was supportive of her dream. Her plans were again placed on hold after the death of her mother. Further prolonging her pursuit of her dream was a scandal that involved her father and an alleged mistress. Caring for the family and the hoopla that ensued because of the trial took an emotional toll on Breckinridge. During one of her visits to Wellesley, she was offered a fellowship in Sociology which she later declined (Coghlan, 2005). Her dreams were interrupted once again after the death of her beloved professor. She decided to move with her sister and took a teaching position. After only a year, she decided that if her destiny was to teach, her preference was to specialize in Mathematics, something she could not do in Staunton (Coghlan, 2005). Another item of contention for her was the low pay that she was being offered. She was very concerned about being able to support herself and the pay that she was being offered wasn’t sufficient enough for her to do just that. This issue is still relevant today with women being paid less than their male counterparts in the same positions. During a visit to Chicago to reacquaint with an old Wellesley friend there was mention of the University. At the University she made contact with other former colleagues and she was offered a graduate fellowship in Political Science. In 1895, Sophonisba Breckinridge attended graduate school at the University of Chicago studying Political Science (Coghlan, 2005). The following year she returned home unable to attend due to financial difficulties. During her time at home she once again helped run the household but this time she studied law at her father’s practice. After months of studying on her own, she decided to take Kentucky bar examination. Sophonisba Breckinridge became the first woman to be admitted to the bar in 1897 (Coghlan, 2005). During this time she also continued her graduate studies. She returned to Chicago and was received her master’s degree in 1897. Her entry into law as short-lived after she accepted another fellowship, although some argue that this was due to gender discrimination (Gupta, n.d.). Breckinridge satisfied her the requirements for her Ph.D. in Political Science, June 1901, and graduated top of her class (Coghlan, 2005). Breckinridge has been labeled in some works as being a frustrated sociologist, a characterization that author Coghlan points out as inaccurate. During her studies Breckinridge had many opportunities to follow the sociology track but declined each time. She was one of the first woman to earn a law degree from the University of Chicago (Coghlan, 2005). And even with her credentials, there were only limited positions available. These positions would have offered the pay that she was seeking but were lacking, and restrictive in her ability to express herself intellectually. She was eventually appointed to a post in the newly formed Department of Household Administration. This was the opportunity that she was looking for and effectively started the framework for what we have come to know today as social work. During this time, Breckinridge periodically live at Hull House. She along with Jane Adams and other notable women worked to secure equal rights for women and people of color and called attention to unfair labor practices (Gupta, n.d.). She was instrumental in fighting for the rights of the disenfranchised people. She took a special interest in the Moral Court of Chicago. This was a specialized court created to deal with suspected prostitutes. Denying bail to these women and forcing them to unjust examinations for sexually transmitted infections and diseases was commonplace (Jabour, 2013). Police officers took advantage of these women and used the threat of arrested in exchange for money or sexual favors. As a past president of the Woman’s City Club, a board member of the Juvenile Protective Association, a key player in the Illinois League of Women Voters, and a founding member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Breckinridge was intimately familiar with prostitution politics at both local and global levels (Jabour, 2013). And even though she did meet the criteria to be called a sociologist, she was much more. Sociologist study human society, Breckinridge did much more, she advocated for the rights of herself and others. She was by all accounts one of the first social workers. She developed the coursework for the first students entering into the field of Social Work. Breckinridge spoke loudest during a time when the voices and concerns of individuals who were not White and male often fell on deaf ears. Her dedication even in the face of adversity is what I believe to be essential to the practice of Social Work. This meant that she sometimes had to go against the popular feminist ideal at the time. She fought for people that did not look like her, she fought for men just as much as she fought for women. She employed the practice of empathy. A trait that I believe is essential to the practice of Social Work.
References
Coghlan, C. L. (2005). "Please Don't Think of Me as a Sociologist": Sophonisba Preston Breckinridge and the Early Chicago School. American Sociologist, 36(1), 3-22.
Gupta, K., curator. (n.d.). Sophonisba Breckinridge. Reforming Their World: Women in the
Progressive Era. Retrieved June 4, 2016 from https://www.nwhm.org/online exhibits/progressiveera/breckinridge.html
Jabour, A. (2013). Prostitution Politics and Feminist Activism in Modern America: Sophonisba
Breckinridge and the Morals Court in Prohibition-Era Chicago. Journal Of Women's History, (3), 141.
