| Title: |
Home Work: Gender, Child Labor, and Education for Girls in Urban America, 1870-1930 |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Ruby Oram |
| Source: |
University of Chicago Press. 2025. |
| Availability: |
University of Chicago Press. 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 773-702-7700; Fax: 773-702-9756; e-mail: marketing@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: https://press.uchicago.edu/index.html |
| Peer Reviewed: |
N |
| Page Count: |
272 |
| Publication Date: |
2025 |
| Document Type: |
Book; Reports - Descriptive |
| Descriptors: |
Educational History; Educational Change; Womens Education; Child Labor; Urban Education; United States History; Public Education; Working Class; Middle Class; Advocacy; Femininity; Racial Differences; Socioeconomic Background; Housework |
| Geographic Terms: |
Illinois (Chicago) |
| ISBN: |
978-0-226-84431-2 |
| Abstract: |
In "Home Work," historian Ruby Oram tells the story of how middle-class, white women reformers lobbied the state to implement various public education reforms to shape the lives of girls and women in industrial cities between 1870 and 1930. Women such as Jane Addams and Florence Kelley used education reform to target working-class communities and advocate for their middle-class ideals of girlhood and femininity, which could vary depending on the racial or socio-economic backgrounds of the girls. For example, reformers generally encouraged white girls to care for their future families, while pushing Black girls toward becoming domestic workers in others' homes. Using Chicago as a case study, Oram also explores how many of the reforms sought by white women were in response to evolving anxieties about immigration, health, and sexual delinquency. An illuminating addition to the history of urban education in America, "Home Work" enriches our understanding of educational inequality in twentieth-century schools. |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| Entry Date: |
2025 |
| Access URL: |
https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo255390838.html |
| Accession Number: |
ED677488 |
| Database: |
ERIC |