Wilma Peebles-Wilkins, Ph.D., is Dean Emeritus at Boston University and a professor at the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University. She served for several years as Dean, Boston University School of Social Work, Boston, MA. Dr. Peebles-Wilkins has written and published extensively on the history of Blacks in American social welfare. Among her publications are: Janie Porter Barrett and the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls: Community Response to the Needs of African American Children; African American Leadership in Social Welfare History: An Empowerment Tradition; and Twenty-one biographical essays on African Americans in the NASW Encyclopedia of Social Work.